After the DNC email leak that led to Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s resignation, speculation has run rampant about how involved Donald Trump is with Russia, which the FBI is reportedly investigating in the leak. This is just another potential scandal in Trump’s notorious campaign, and includes his refusal to release his tax returns, which he says is because he’s being audited, but he’s also kinda/sorta suggested that he’s not releasing them because doing so could be damaging to him politically. Some past tax returns released in conjunction in Trump-related lawsuits show Trump reportedly declaring zero dollars in annual income, while Senator Elizabeth Warren has speculated that his tax returns would reveal how bad of a businessman Trump actually is.
Now, George Will is here to top all of that speculation. The famous conservative commentator, who prominently left the Republican Party because of Donald Trump, posited that his tax returns probably show financial links to Russian oligarchs. Hilariously, Will said this without any actual evidence during a Fox News broadcast of the Democratic National Convention on Monday, as The Hill reports. Will said that the tax returns is where Democrats would find their truth that Trump and Russia are in deep with each other:
“Well, it’s the sort of thing we might learn if we saw the candidate’s tax returns,” Will responded. “Perhaps one more reason why we’re not seeing his tax returns — because he is deeply involved in dealing with Russian oligarchs and others. Whether that’s good, bad or indifferent, it’s probably the reasonable surmise.”
While it’s fun to speculate how a tax return would show such a connection, one can only imagine a line item labeled “donation from wealthy Russian oil billionaire.” If only tax forms were that straightforward. Of course, since Trump refuses to release his tax returns, we actually have little idea of the state of his finances, which insulates him from criticism that he’s not a great businessman, an idea that he has built a successful campaign on, or that he’s doing something inappropriate with his money. This late in the game, it’s hard to see even that revelation hurting Trump’s campaign much. And since the Republican nominee has proved so resilient in the face of criticism, George Will’s speculation will probably not make much more difference.
(via The Hill)