David Cay Johnston, the journalist who received pages of Donald Trump’s 2005 tax returns in the mail and provided them to MSNBC on Tuesday night, believes speculation that Trump leaked them may be false. Rumors swirled that Trump or someone in his camp sent Johnston the tax documents, as they were just the first two pages and showed he actually paid income taxes. This theory arose as the documents paint the president in a good light. However, Johnston told GMA‘s George Stephanopoulos that while Trump could possibly be the source, the White House’s reaction to the story suggests that’s not the case. In addition, the “client copy” note that’s printed on the 1040A’s second page may suggest the actual culprit:
“The venom and the anger and the falsehoods in the White House statement suggests that, no, he’s probably not the source. [Client copy] tells me that this is somebody who either worked at the accounting firm or had connections to it or this copy was turned over to someone in a regulatory proceeding, in litigation, in a financial statement. And why not the whole return?”
Johnston, who won a Pulitzer Prize for tax reporting, is a familiar face to Trump, since he wrote the 2016 book The Making of Donald Trump. The two men have met before, although Trump didn’t seem to remember that while insulting him and shouting, “FAKE NEWS!”
Does anybody really believe that a reporter, who nobody ever heard of, "went to his mailbox" and found my tax returns? @NBCNews FAKE NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 15, 2017
To which Johnson told Trump that his White House confirmed some details within the documents.
Gee, Donald, your White House confirmed my story. POTUS fake Tweet. Sad! https://t.co/ibK2ApKI9E
— David Cay Johnston (@DavidCayJ) March 15, 2017
However, Johnston acknowledged that Trump has a long history of leaking things, which Johnston suspects was the case with the New York Times tax scoop of 2016. When Stephanopoulos asked Johnston what these documents don’t show, he says that Trump’s financial connections are clearly missing: “I don’t think he wants us to know all the people he’s done business with, both those he’s beholden to and those he receives income from.”
The tax mystery continues, and Johnston reveals that he and his family are now the subject of harassment and death threats.
Trump fans call & harass my wife & 1 of my children after I break story White House confirmed. Sad! Let's have open debate, not threats.
— David Cay Johnston (@DavidCayJ) March 15, 2017
To be clear, folks, I don't intimidate. But calls to family are out of bounds, a disturbing sign of how Trump damages civil debate.
— David Cay Johnston (@DavidCayJ) March 15, 2017