Donald Trump’s son said his father can’t release his tax returns because that would allow voters to scrutinize them in a way that would detract from the candidate’s main message.
Donald Trump, Jr. was asked by the Tribune-Review in Pennsylvania why his father won’t publicly disclose his tax returns as candidates in both parties — including rival Hillary Clinton — have traditionally done.
“Because he’s got a 12,000-page tax return that would create … financial auditors out of every person in the country asking questions that would detract from (his father’s) main message,” Donald Trump, Jr. told the newspaper in a piece published Wednesday.
The Republican nominee has said he is not releasing his tax returns because he is being audited by the Internal Revenue Service, although under law there is nothing that prevents a person under audit from disclosing their returns should they chose to do so.
Donald Trump Jr.’s comments come after Rep. Steve King told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Wednesday that putting out the returns would lead to misinterpretations.
“With a $10 billion business if Donald Trump dumped his taxes out today, there would be all kinds of misinterpretations of that and maybe some real interpretations of that between now and November. That would be the only discussion we’d have,” King, a Trump supporters, said on “New Day.” “So I’d say the window is closed on that but I wish he had done so last March or April.”