Who Leaked Trump’s Three Tax Pages?
I am going to present this as a detective mystery, unveiling what I think are clues, and see if you come to the same conclusion that I am considering. We will use Sherlock Holmes’ method of examining and eliminating all of the suspects, and if just left with one at the end, we must accept that one, no matter how implausible that is.
First, Trump is not in a 3 AM hissy-fit over the leaking. If anyone even frowns at Trump he always attacks.
Second, Trump has everybody sign a non-disclosure agreement of anything personal about him. He sues a leaker for hundreds of millions of dollars. Trump has not made any such threat this time.
Third, leaking a tax return if you are a state or federal employee is a serious crime, publishable by a year in jail. The New York Times would probably not be punishable. But a state employee might only have access to that particular state’s Trump tax return. Sounds like an inside job in the Trump Organization.
Fourth, of all the 20 or 30 years of tax returns that could be released, only the year in which Trump suffered the $916 million dollar loss that justified his not paying any income taxes for 18 years was released.
Fifth, of all the thousands of pages that could have been released with perhaps damaging information about his charity giving or foreign lenders, only the front pages of three state returns was released, which did not have this information. The second pages might have had the banking information. The first page of the Federal form would have had the charitable giving information. Obviously, the leaker had access to all of the information.
Sixth, the tax preparer, Jack Mitnick, was contacted to verify their authenticity. Instead of hiding behind his non-disclosure agreement out of fear of fiscal annihilation, he readily verified the forms and even explained the two leading numbers of the loss being typed in separately, and off the regular line.
Seventh, Trump has not sued Mitnick for the shirt off of his back, much less all of the suits in his closet. I thought Mitnick might have been Trump loyal, until an interview in which he stated that Trump was not a tax genius, since Mitnick did his taxes from the ’60s until 1996, and all Trump did was to sign them.
Eighth, the Trump puppets, Giuliani and Christy, were prepared with their scripts, calling Trump a genius for paying no income taxes, as Trump had hinted in the debate. Well, I’m sure that they get daily scripts anyway, so this is not firm evidence.
Ninth, even if Trump was a tax genius, he did not prepare all 12,000 pages of his tax returns covering his 524 associated businesses. There must have been hundreds of lifelong tax professionals preparing his returns, who didn’t need a genius to explain that losses can be written off over several years, which everybody who has ever filled out a tax return knows.
Tenth, the major newspapers have explained the special real estate developer’s tax breaks in simple English, and understanding them didn’t require an accounting degree or a genius IQ. (Since Trump did not bother learning the Constitution or the bill of rights to run for President, I doubt if he read the tax laws or the returns either.) Since real estate developers have spent decades, along with their dads, in getting real estate tax breaks instituted, it’s sort of been ingrained in them since they were kids.
Eleventh, the envelope was sent from the Trump Tower. Why would a leaker leave such a clue, unless he was supposed to in order to verify the authenticity of the source.
Twelfth, after pounding Clinton for over a year for an insecure server, why did Trump not lock his top secret tax returns in a safe, to which only Trump had the combination?
Thirteenth, what was found out on fingerprinting the envelope or the forms themselves that were probably just xeroxed? Or on the DNA if there were stamps that were licked. Each Xerox machine has to have some unique stains or scratches, or slight distortions of characters, or lighting, or variations in ink. Have they found the machine that was in use? Why has Trump not called in the New York City Police, the FBI, and the IRS to find the source of the leak?
Fourteenth, Trump called the tax form theft a criminal act, which is sort of obvious. Did Trump do this to hide the fact that it might not really be a crime? It certainly verified that the forms were authentic, which may have been what Trump wanted. After all, this is the man that claimed that President Obama’s birth certificate could have been a fake. Why didn’t Trump deny the forms’ authenticity, if he didn’t want the information out there?
Fifteenth, there is the timing question. Is it a coincidence that the forms were released just after Trump’s astonishingly poor debate performance, and after a week of rapidly declining poll numbers? Also, after the debate in which Trump praised himself as smart for not having paid income taxes? Could some Trump Organization insider have thought that this would get Trump off the hook from releasing the vast amount of information on his income and investments in all of the more recent years since 1995, as well as showing that Trump was a tax genius, and only following the law?
Sixteenth, some have speculated that it could be a disgruntled Trump child or ex-wife. This is really unlikely, since their jobs, support, access to the empire, and eventual inheritance would be lost. They would also be sued for violating their non-disclosure agreements. They have also been indoctrinated during their lives to believe that Donald’s salesmanship is the key to the kingdom, and have even participated in some of his fraudulent salesmanship.
Seventeenth, it could not have been anyone on his campaign staff, since they must not be involved in his business side, and have no need to know about it. Trump has guaranteed that as President, he will have no contact with his business, so he doesn’t need a blind trust. Obviously he would not let his present and future political workers know anything about his business. (By the way, I figured out why Trump has to Tweet at 3 AM and 5 AM, which is because that is when his handlers are not around to watch over his shoulder.)
That should be enough clues. What is your guess as to the leaker?
I would give you my guess, but I am afraid of being sued.
