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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Trump Tax Return/Russia Letter Is Full of Holes
by Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-trump-tax-returnrussia-letter-is-full-of-holes
"SNIP...............
First, some minor points.
1: The upshot of the second paragraph is that since Trump runs all his operations as a private company, with the various entities working as pass-throughs, his personal taxes serve as an effective proxy for what his businesses are doing. That isnt quite as tight as theyre suggesting.
2: The lawyers say theyre basing their analysis on the last 10 years of income taxes. That should cover a lot of ground. But why just 10 years? That leaves quite a number of years unaccounted for.
3: Heres one point that is unclear to me. The text of the letter appears to assert these facts on the basis of Trumps tax returns alone. The third paragraph reads With few exceptions as detailed below your tax returns do not reflect
and then lists three categories of financial dealings which are not shown. But lots of information of this sort would never appear in a tax return. Indeed, Trump and his surrogates have frequently made the same point. Seeing the tax returns wouldnt even settle a lot of these questions. If Im reading the letter correctly, the lawyers may know of information that is not reflected in Trumps personal tax returns for the last decade and simply not mention those facts. Again, the letter specifically says your tax returns do not reflect not you do not have. This is, needless to say, a massive loophole in the assertions in the letter.
4: Why just Russia? Many of the questions people are looking at are tied to Kazakhstan, Ukraine and other post-Soviet states. Not just Russia.
...............SNIP"
Wounded Bear
(58,656 posts)ALL of them. I figure he's up to his eyeballs in dirty money.
Panich52
(5,829 posts)"numerous foreign entanglements are a constant violation of the Constitution [emoluments]." He was talking about far more than dealings w/ Russians.
Panich52
(5,829 posts)was chosen last year by Chambers & Partners as "Russia law firm of the year"