Trump’s son: Tax returns ‘detract’ from political message – CNN

Story highlights

• Donald Trump Jr. spoke about his father’s voluminous tax returns
• He said releasing the returns would lead to questions that would detract from his father’s message

“Because he’s got a 12,000-page tax return that would create … financial auditors out of every person in the country asking questions that would detract from (his father’s) main message,” Donald Trump, Jr. told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in a piece published Wednesday.

That’s a dramatic shift from the Republican nominee’s longtime explanation that an ongoing audit is preventing him from releasing his tax returns. (There are no laws barring Trump from disclosing his tax returns while he is being audited).

Rep. Steve King told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Wednesday that putting out the returns would lead to misinterpretations.

“With a $ 10 billion business if Donald Trump dumped his taxes out today, there would be all kinds of misinterpretations of that and maybe some real interpretations of that between now and November. That would be the only discussion we’d have,” King, a Trump supporters, said on “New Day.” “So I’d say the window is closed on that but I wish he had done so last March or April.”

The comments reflect the political potency of Trump’s tax returns. There are growing questions about what’s in the documents, including details of investments in foreign countries. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who was the GOP’s vice presidential nominee in 2012, said Thursday that presidential candidates should release their tax returns.

“I released mine,” Ryan said. “I think we should release our returns. I’ll leave it to him when to do it.”

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has released nearly four decades of tax returns.