On Tuesday night, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow revealed President Trump’s 2005 tax to the world, proving once and for all that President Trump paid a lot in taxes, $38 million to be exact. What she did may have violated federal privacy laws, and reports indicate that President Trump is considering a lawsuit against MSNBC and possibly the journalist who provided the documents.
From Fox Business
Trump’s tax returns were published Tuesday by DCReport.org, a website operated by David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter. They were simultaneously aired on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show.”
Legal experts say any case would be a long-shot given First Amendment protections for journalists and an important Supreme Court precedent that dates back to the famous 1971 “Pentagon Papers” case. Trump would also have to show that the journalists were complicit in stealing his tax returns—which both Johnston and Maddow have denied. “Trump’s lawyers could try and sue but they will get the crap kicked out of them in court,” said veteran white collar attorney Stanley Arkin. “It’s the First Amendment. What are they going to sue them for? Stealing the returns? Nobody made any money out of it. Nobody was bribed.”
White House spokeswoman Hope Hicks would neither confirm nor deny the president’s interest in a possible lawsuit against MSNBC or Johnston.
In a statement, MSNBC told FOX Business: “There is no legal prohibition against journalists publishing these tax returns. It is protected by the First Amendment and Supreme Court precedent.
Johnston, who obtained the tax documents before appearing on MSNBC, wrote a biography called “The Making of Donald Trump” in 2016 and won the Pulitzer Prize at The New York Times for exposing loopholes and inequities in the U.S. tax code. He didn’t respond to emails or telephone calls for comment. During the MSNBC broadcast, Johnston said he received Trump’s tax documents anonymously through the mail.
