I did a quick read of the just-released House Ways and Means Committee report on Donald Trump's tax returns and shot out a few tweets. Here they are as a thread.
This is quite interesting. During the Trump years, the Trump IRS did not submit Trump's tax returns to the mandatory audits they were supposed to receive. Senate Democrats, perhaps next month you should ask why.
From the House Ways and Means report on Trump's taxes, here is a passage suggesting that Trump, @IvankaTrump, Eric, and @DonaldJTrumpJr were up to some fishy stuff.
From the House Ways and Means report on Trump taxes: There's the strong hint that Trump improperly claimed business deductions to cover personal expenses. That would be cheating.
From the House Ways and Means report on Trump's taxes: Trump's lawyers became concerned when the IRS expanded the team reviewing his returns from one to three agents. The IRS response: Hell, Trump's returns have 500 pass-throughs to review!
From the House Ways and Means report on Trump's taxes: An IRS agent identified "large unusual questionable items" regarding over $80 million in Trump's declared losses on his 2018 return.
The bottom line: There is much on Trump's taxes—possibly improper declarations of expenses and losses, questionable loans to his kids, undocumented charitable donations, weird loan forgiveness & more—that warrant review. No wonder he wouldn't release them. nytimes.com/interactive/20…
Everyone who called for Trump to release his tax returns was right. He publicly said he would do so—and then refused, lying that he couldn't b/c he was being audited. His failure to do so was one of his first attacks on transparency & good-govt norms. It showed who & what he was.
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Nine years ago, my friend Sonya Cohen Cramer died of cancer at the age of 50. She was wonderful in many ways—including as a singer. Her voice was stunning. Smithsonian Folkways just released an album of her songs.... 1/
I wrote about Sonya and the new album, "You've Been a Friend to Me," in my OUR LAND newsletter. See the second item:
But I'd like to make it easy for everyone to hear the beautiful music she left behind. So here are songs available on YouTube.... 2/link.motherjones.com/public/35422739
This is the title track: "You've Been a Friend to Me," a song from the 1850s that the Carter Family made popular in the 1930s.... 3/
Re-upping tweets from last night with some key points about the #J6Committee's just-released, impressive, and important final report that shows how close the US came to a coup.
EXCLUSIVE: The day after the big @nytimes exposé, scandal-struck George Santos revived the dissolved mystery company through which he had claimed to have earned between $3.5 million & $11 million. Very odd. Read the scoop from @nlanard & me. Please RT too. motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
A big question is where did newly-elected GOPer Goerge Santos get his millions. He had no assets & a $55K salary in 2020 but $3.5m to $11.5m in income in 2021/22. It all has to do with a mystery firm he has not fully explained. Read our scoop:
JUST POSTED: In my video interview with @RepRaskin, he poignantly discusses his son Tommy, the Jan. 6 attack, and what happened behind the scenes during the second Trump impeachment. Please watch, like, and share. 1/3 motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
Also, @RepRaskin and I talked about a stunning spoken-word piece called "Where War Begins" that Tommy Raskin wrote. Watch this video of Tommy performing it. 2/3
And check out the Tommy Raskin Memorial Fund for People and Animals. 3/3 tommyraskinfund.org
It's the end of 2021. I'm going to tweet out some favorite stories I did this year. And let me remind you that @MotherJones is a nonprofit. If you like the independent, kickass journalism my colleagues & I do, please consider sending in a few bucks. 1/19 secure.motherjones.com/flex/mj/key/7L…