Fox News Panel Warns Trump Against Releasing Tax Returns: ‘It Would Be a Disaster’
On Wednesday, Fox News Outnumbered panel advised President Donald Trump against heeding Democratic calls to release his tax returns, claiming such an information dump would “be a disaster” and his opponents will “find something to crucify him with.”
The discussion began with former Governor Mike Huckabee, who was starring as today’s “one lucky man” on Outnumbered, attacking the New York Times report on Trump’s tax returns from 1985 to 1994, which revealed the president’s businesses lost over $1.1 billion during that timeframe.
“What he paid in taxes and what he did with real estate deals in the ‘80s — [Americans] could care less about,” he said. “If the Democrats think this is their best weapon, let’s go ahead and plan on getting tickets to the inauguration.”
After host Harris Faulkner asked why Trump doesn’t just release them to end speculation and inquiry, Huckabee said that he did release his tax returns as a candidate and it was “the dumbest thing I ever did.”
“All you are doing is handing your opponents hundreds of pages — in his case, thousands of pages, out of context, to be lifted out in political opposition,” he added. “Then he spends all his time trying to respond to nitpicky questions about his tax returns.”
He continued by advising the president against releasing his tax returns: “It was a disaster. I didn’t have much to show. But I’m telling you, my opponent didn’t, I did, and I paid dearly for it. I would never do it again, and I’ve said to the president, don’t do it. Don’t do it.”
Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe then accused the media looking “petty” for digging into his taxes and argued that Democrats won’t be able to hurt Trump for his bad financial history even if he releases his taxes because “he’s still a more of a successful business person than anyone whose ultimately going to be the Democratic nominee.”
“There will be something in there that they could crucify him with,” co-host Melissa Francis replied. “If you looked at the whole thing — it’s going to be thousands of pages — it’s going to tell you about this LLC and this company over here and they go dig on that front. It just creates a never-ending treasure hunt that would hurt him.”
“It would be a disaster,” she added.
Faulkner concluded the segment by asking why Trump doesn’t make the same argument that Huckabee is — i.e., that he can’t release his tax returns because Democrats will use it to attack him.
“I think it’s fascinating what you said to us today,” Faulkner said. “About what can happen — life out of context with those tax returns.
Watch above, via Fox News.
