Trump sues to try to stop tax returns from being sent to NY prosecutor

Yeah, insisting that our would-be leaders be transparent and accountable is "authoritarian leftist". But no surprise that Trump supporters aren't big on either transparency or accountability.

I'd support requiring that Congressional candidate release their tax returns. But that's less important than the presidency.

That said, if all you care about is the broad question of "how did they earn their wealth?", you can get that sort of information from the already-required financial disclosure forms.

For Trump, we know his wealth comes largely from real estate and licensing the use of his name.

Pelosi and Feinstein are married to wealthy investment bankers.

Maxine Waters has a very small net worth -- $275,000 or so in 2016. Largely because of large mortgages against her house.
https://www.latimes.com/projects/how-much-are-they-worth/maxine-waters/

 

Not under current law, no.

I would support a law requiring presidential candidates to do so, but such a law does not yet exist.

 

If they were business loans, no they are not listed on a personal tax return, they are listed on the business return. What flows through from the corporate entity depends on the legal structure of the corporate entity.

Best you'll get from a flow through is a K1, or the corporate entity that made distributions or dividends.

What will be revealed apparently will be news to you.

Inferred. That's where the majority of problems come from, and likely will be the bone of contention. A person who supports Trump will say no big, but someone who has a dislike from Trump will be on yelling at the top of their voice.

There are actually people who believe that his personal tax returns will list everyone he does business with, and why, so no, it's not a strawman.

If Trump were dealing with known criminals, the governmental alphabet soup would have been all over it like stink on a pile, plus the IRS dissecting his tax returns.

You can 'expect' anything that pleases you, but it is not required or mandated. There are some who are trying to make it so, but they don't have a valid reason for demanding it.

Likely for very different reasons.

 

You get quite a lot.

So what? How is that relevant? The same thing happened to every other candidate in the last 40 years. Why is Trump special?

Since you're talking to me, not them, it was a strawman. I've never made such a claim.

Nice assumption you have there. And doesn't address the sort of conflict of interest that doesn't rise to the level of illegality, but would still be relevant politically.

*Shrug*. As long as we agree on what the end result should be, I don't really care what path we take.

 

It's just as important. I want EVERYONE to release it... OR... NO ONE. All this cherry picking is bullshit.

 

You dont understand .... funny how the ol foundation dried up as soon as old Hillary got destroyed in the election by president Trump. Just another unfortunate coincidence i guess. All of a sudden all foreign nations just stopped giving billions to those warm charity minded clintons . You all have a lot of nutz talking about trump supporters defending trump because there is no evidence he did anything wrong , yet you will defend hillary and bill till the end .... ultimate hypocrisy... sickening .... do you have any proof of the clintons doing anything nice for anyone without getting paid ? Anything?

 

You do realize, if they find a way to force the issue, that 'you' won't see a thing. There is a procedural difference releasing tax returns to the public, and tax returns being released to committee.

 

Agreed, carreer politicians that just happen to become multi-millionaires while calling themselves public servants. They are all quick to point the finger , but we dont get to prone them , their entire family , every person they ever dealt with . Just look at this joe- hunter biden BS. You tell me if that was trump and don jr. In Ukraine and china and then trump jr. Started getting paid millions for absolutely nothing every lefty on this forum would be doing backflips crying foul . But nope , not ol cteepy joe ... free pass , he is a democrat . Like the clinton team destroying evidence , white washing their computers , smashing her phones. Yet all that is cool with the ridiculous left . Absolutely amazing really.

 

Oh, bullshit. One represents a congressional district of 800,000 people. One will become the leader of the free world.

So you are making the perfect the enemy of the good. Nice ridiculous standard.

I've got an idea: how about we simply adopt the standard used without issue for the last 40 years -- and require all presidential candidates to release their returns? It's a start, at least.

 

Yep. Hunter biden making MILLIONS in the Ukraine and China with his pappa on his side with NO experience in the areas he was being paid.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE!

 

ALL OR NONE.

Equal Branches. Your desire to Cherry Pick is noted.

 

Well, this discussion has conflated the two.

When presidential candidates release their returns, they do so publicly. We, the public, get to see them.

In the case of Congress or a prosecutor requesting them, you are correct: the public won't see them.

 

To repeat: you are attempting to make the perfect the enemy of the good. You profess to want to see everyone's returns, but if you can't get that, you don't want to see anyone's returns.

And then you insist on a false equivalency between a Congressperson and the president.

I'll take "not arguing in good faith" for $100, Alex.

 

Facts , tell me about the fact that russia , Ukraine, Haiti all quit donating billions as soon as hillary and bill lost power . Lets see son of these facts you lefties speak of ? Tell me who else on this earth can destroy evidence and the entire FBI ,just turns their head and gives the entire clinton team immunity . Tell me about Diane Feinstein and her chinese limo driver , or twll me about the brothers from iran that had access to the every democat computer ? Please oh knower of everything . Give us some facts how you will walk the plank for these traitorous dems , but hate the sound of make anerica great . I cant wait .

 

They are EQUAL BRANCHES. You want one under a microscope and the other to walk. Let me guess... which one has Democratic Party power.

So ridiculous.

 

Indeed , Feinstein and her chinese spy limo driver , or the anwan ( sp) brothers working on dems computers then just fleeing the country with all their intel . They are so pathetic , just look how they defend bill clinton after he was a Epstein island regular . A damn child rapist and the left still defends the Clintons. Sick bastards .

 

Voluntarily. Should not be mandated or required.

I think it's completely defensable.

Its personal financial information, which quite frankly is none of your business.

 

Certainly worth investigating. See? I support actual transparency regardless of party. Unlike you.

As far as what is known about Hunter Biden and Ukraine:
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-...-checking-joe-biden-hunter-biden-and-ukraine/

He served as a director for a Ukrainian gas company.

Not sure how you make the claim that he had "no experience" for the job. He's a longtime senior lawyer (graduated from Yale Law), having worked for or led a multitude of law firms and investment funds. He was a senior vice president at MBNA bank. He served in the Department of Commerce under Bill Clinton.

Did taking the directorship present a conflict of interest for his dad? Yep. If nothing else, it looks bad. He shouldn't have done it, and it justifies extra scrutiny of Joe in case his son's position influenced American policy in any way. I'm glad you think something like that is problematic; so do I.

I assume you are equally concerned about the actions of Trump's family. Trump has not meaningfully separated himself from his businesses. His sons pursue business projects all around the world, and the income from those projects go directly into Trump's pocket. Then there's the shenanigans that Jared Kushner's family has pulled, openly attempting to trade on their connection to Trump.

 

Conflicts of interest are mandated and enforced by campaign finance laws, the IRS, etc. Are you telling me the State of New York, or Joe Public is going to find a violation these agencies missed?

Really? So what's the standard for defining something as a conflict? That Joe public didn't like it?

It follows the same concept that wealthy are being greedy and not paying their fair share when following tax laws.

The loose standards are exactly what I mean by a witch hunt.

You the elections boards don't evaluate conflicts?

 

Uh... The GOP has controlled the Senate for 9 of the last 13 sessions, going back to 1995.

The GOP has controlled the House for 10 of the last 13 sessions.

Never in that time have I argued that Congresspeople should release their returns. I have always been focused on presidential candidates.

So no, the only one being partisan here is you.

 

Fair enough. Just keep in mind that the power you want to expand will eventually be used against you. When opinion becomes law, women no longer have a right to decide what to do with their own bodies, gay people cannot marry, people go to prison for a plant that others find objectionable, etc. Yay!! Government power.

If it pleases the crown, I would like to vote based on my own criteria. Does my position still confuse you?

 

Conflicts of interest are rarely a legal matter. At best they are a matter of policy.

This seems obvious, but yes. We require transparency from our candidates, and let each voter decide if the information matters to them, good or bad. And then vote accordingly.

I'm not talking about some sort of formal investigation. I'm talking about making information available to voters so they can incorporate it into their voting decision.

I'm not sure what you're referring to. Can you cite a specific agency, and provide evidence that it polices conflicts of interest? Might also help if you provided evidence that the board has access to candidate tax returns.

 

I fail to see how requiring financial transparency from our would-be leaders is part of a slippery slope toward totalitarianism.

 

Then they are subjective, emotional, and don't really matter.

I think that it is absolutely ridiculous that our public servants in Congress end up millionaires for their service... however; if they didn't break any laws doing so, then it is what it is.

Either adjust the laws so presumed conflicts ARE illegal, or accept the fact that anything outside of that is just emotional reactions.

I disagree. Public servants lives don't suddenly become and open book about their entire lives simply because they want to serve their country. I really don't care if a politician smoked weed in college 30 years ago, or experimented sexually with the same sex. At what point do you draw the line in this "open transparency"?

So some politician was stupid with credit when they were young and had collections, or a bankruptcy, or hell made millions legally.. none of my business.

I think people shouldn't have to give up the right to privacy at any level in order to serve our country. You want to see tax returns, somebody else wants to know their sexual preference, etc... people have a right to a certain level of privacy and our politicians are no exceptions. Obtain the information necessary to ensure national security, verify campaign finance, have the elections board performed a background check, hell even a mental stability test... but that shouldn't be open to public information.

You keep using this term Conflict of Interest. That is a subjective term. If you think its a conflict, it should be illegal. Maybe I don't find it a conflict... this is why we have laws.

 

He has ZERO Energy Experience. I am a far better fit with over a decade in Nuclear, Fossil, Transmission and Distribution experience.

He's a coke head scumbag living off the Biden family leverage. The Navy threw him out.