I continue to worry about the tax return story

[Stinky The Clown]

I continue to think back to Dan Rather.

I notice the mismatched type for the first two digits of the totals of the losses.

I wonder if, indeed, the envelope was mailed from Trump Tower.

I am suspicious of the return address on the envelope reading "The Trump Organization."

I smell the stench of Roger Ailes, Steve Bannon, David Bossie, and Roger Stone - dirty tricksters all - in the air.

[mnhtnbb]

6. Indeed. The mismatched type has been explained by the preparer whose signature is on the forms.

That is not something someone could "make up". It does validate that these are copies of the originals.

[csziggy]

11. Yep - from the original NYT story

On Wednesday, The Times presented the tax documents to Jack Mitnick, a lawyer and certified public accountant who handled Mr. Trump’s tax matters for more than 30 years, until 1996. Mr. Mitnick was listed as the preparer on the New Jersey tax form.

Mr. Mitnick, 80, now semiretired and living in Florida, said that while he no longer had access to Mr. Trump’s original returns, the documents appeared to be authentic copies of portions of Mr. Trump’s 1995 tax returns. Mr. Mitnick said the signature on the tax preparer line of the New Jersey tax form was his, and he readily explained an obvious anomaly in the way especially large numbers appeared on the New York tax document.

A flaw in the tax software program he used at the time prevented him from being able to print a nine-figure loss on Mr. Trump’s New York return, he said. So, for example, the loss of “-915,729,293” on Line 18 of the return printed out as “5,729,293.” As a result, Mr. Mitnick recalled, he had to use his typewriter to manually add the “-91,” thus explaining why the first two digits appeared to be in a different font and were slightly misaligned from the following seven digits.

“This is legit,” he said, stabbing a finger into the document.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html

[JHB]

2. He could prove a falsehood easily. Just release his own copies

It's like Mitt: he'll deal with the hit because actually releasing would eliminate deniability

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. Has Trump, et. al commented on the story yet?

If so, what are they saying? That's it's a fake? Of course, Trump's unforced comment at the debate that he is "smart" for not paying taxes for at least some length of time would seem to lend some credence to this tax report. I believe that I saw somewhere that there is even more to this story that the NYT is supposedly working on. I'm not saying you're wrong to be concerned but there doesn't *seem* to be a lot of pushback from the Trump campaign about this that you might suspect and, like I said, he's practically already admitted not paying taxes for some time period and seems quite proud of it.

[awake]

4. The accountant who prepared the return conferned it is real

He said that the tax software he used in the 90s was not able to post a loss that large so he had to type in the first two numbers.

[Hortensis]

20. Yes, you would remember typing digits to fit in a $900K+ LOSS.

Stinky, are you worried Trump will lose? I don't understand your concern.

[OhZone]

5. How long did it take for Dan Rather to get -

contradicted?

Oh, and aren't they complaining about getting the culprits indicted for leaking this - or the reporters - rather than saying it's a lie?

hmmmm

Seems apples and oranges.

Not that I don't get that there could be tricks afoot.

[Dump The Rump]

7. T RUMP Can't answer a truth.

T Rump has never answered anything that contains the truth. Why would anyone think he would do something different now?

[Dump The Rump]

19. RUMPRUMP.com

Go see rumprump.com for significant items that bear this brand. It fits T RUMP perfectly

[avebury]

8. From what I read

the Accountant indicated that the printer couldn't handle the large size of the negative number and had to add the first 2 digits.

[ksoze]

9. Only way to really prove its a fake is to show the real one

Round about way for us to get to see his taxes. But he won;'t show them, because even if this ones a fake, the real one could be worse.

[Cicada]

10. Mismatched line of entries confirms accuracy

The preparer Mitnick confirmed accuracy on the record. He said tax software would not print amounts larger than 9,999,999 so he had to enter first two digits with his typewriter, hence the line misalignment. In the 80's I had a client who left Iran when the Shah fell whose business in Iran was seized by the government of Iran. His loss exceeded 100 million and the software I used also would not process amounts over 9,999,999 so I too had to enter the amounts manually. This detail makes me believe what the preparer, whose name is on the returns, told the New York Times. PLUS the Trump campaign has not denied the accuracy of the returns.

[LynneSin]

12. Hell I keep thinking of the Hitler Diaries...remember that!

Back in 1983 the big news scoop were these diaries that were found that were supposedly written by Adolph Hitler. Turns out they were a very intricate hoax.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Diaries


BUT as another poster suggested - only way Trump can prove us wrong is to release the correct ones.

[MineralMan]

13. Doubtless, there is a mail drop in the public area of

Trump Tower. So, it could easily have been mailed from inside the building. But, one can put any return address on any piece of mail, so it doesn't really matter.

The mismatched type has already been explained by the accountant whose signature is on the form.

[LanternWaste]

14. You appear to focus on the spurious correlations rather than the distinct and relevant differences.

What do you you thing the specific consequences of the story would then be should it prove to be false, regardless of what you smell? You appear to focus on the spurious correlations rather than the distinct and relevant differences.

[Wednesdays]

15. If something was amiss, there'd be a torrent of denials

by Rump and his surrogates. But nothing even close to a whisper of a denial has been mentioned.

I think you're turning yourself into knots over nothing.

[Nye Bevan]

16. Trump would have immediately said "they are fake",

as opposed to complaining about the NYT obtaining them illegally.

They are real.

[HuckleB]

17. Don't worry. This is only the beginning on this story.

And it's not going to end well for Trump.