During the election, there was a lot of scandal over Donald Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns. While it’s not required by law, traditionally every presidential candidate has released their tax returns for decades. So when MSNBC host Rachel Maddow announced that she had a copy of Trump’s 2005 returns, she thought she had a huge scoop. She was wrong.
Tuesday night, Maddow tweeted out that she had the tax returns, most likely to drum up anticipation for her show:
Trump scooped her scoop, though, by releasing the tax returns himself before her show aired. And regardless of where people got their information, the verdict was almost universally clear: this was a bunch of nothing. The return showed that Trump reported $150 million in income and paid $38 million in taxes.
And Maddow has been getting slammed for it.
Thank you Rachel Maddow for proving to your #Trump hating followers how successful @realDonaldTrump is & that he paid $40mm in taxes! #Taxes
Congrats Rachel Maddow, you've officially eclipsed Geraldo Rivera in most embarrassing TV moment. Worse than Al Capone's vault. #NotMyPresspic.twitter.com/wILkDfc5Nm