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On Tuesday, the Supreme Court refused to overturn an appeals court ruling that Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, was entitled to have 6 years of Donald Trump's tax returns. If Neal gets them on a USB stick and makes copies for all the members of his Committee, how long will it be before a copy of the USB stick magically appears in the mailbox of The New York Times ace reporter Maggie Haberman? Probably not very long.
Trump reacted furiously to the Supreme Court decision. He said: "Has Joe Biden paid taxes on all of the money he made illegally from Hunter and beyond?" There is not a shred of evidence that either Biden or his son made any money illegally.
But even before any reporter gets ahold of Trump's tax returns, other information about Trump's taxes is starting to leak out. Tuesday, the accountant who has been preparing Donald Trump's personal taxes for years, Donald Bender, testified in court as part of the Manhattan D.A.'s case against Trump. Bender said that Trump has reported huge losses every year, including $700 million in 2009 and $200 million in 2010. If the other years are like that, we can understand why Trump has fought so hard to keep his tax returns secret. Can you imagine lines like this appearing in a primary ad by Gov. Ron DeSantis (F-FL)? "Donald Trump claims to be a great businessman but he lost nearly a billion dollars in 2009-2010. Great businessmen don't lose a billion dollars in the space of a couple of years. They make a billion dollars in a couple of years, not lose it." That is sure to make an impact on people who like Trump because they think he is a great businessman. And just wait until the actual tax returns get to Haberman or some other reporter. What else is buried in there?
Trump is not charged in this case and is not expected to testify. Trump Organization employee and former CFO Allen Weisselberg is testifying, though. He admits that the company committed tax fraud but says he was the one who planned and executed it and Trump didn't know about it. How's that for loyalty? But the trial could easily reveal more about Trump's taxes and might even implicate Trump in the end if other Trump Organization executives say that Trump knew exactly what was going on. (V)