President Trump called the partial release of his 2005 tax return “fake news” — and used his own Twitter account Wednesday morning to throw shade on the reporter who broke the story and NBC News for promoting it.
“Does anybody really believe that a reporter, who nobody ever heard of, ‘went to his mailbox’ and found my tax returns? @NBCNews FAKE NEWS!” Trump said on Twitter.
But the tax returns that reporter David Cay Johnston presented to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Tuesday night were real.
Indeed, the White House tried to undercut the exclusive by releasing Trump’s 1040 tax form in advance of the airing.
The form shows Trump made $150 million that year and also paid $38 million in taxes.
Trump’s taxes factored largely in the 2016 presidential race after the real estate mogul refused to release them. His opponent, Hillary Clinton, wrongly claimed Trump hadn’t paid any taxes.
In another tweet Wednesday, Trump shot back at rapper Snoop Dogg for making a video in which it appeared he fired a gun at a figure who looked like the president.
“Can you imagine what the outcry would be if @SnoopDogg, failing career and all, had aimed and fired the gun at President Obama? Jail time!” Trump said.