At the start of her 12 p.m. ET hour MSNBC show on Monday, host Andrea Mitchell touted The New York Times hit piece on Donald Trump’s taxes as “the billion-dollar October surprise” that was “delivered” to liberal paper’s “doorstep.”
Moments later, correspondent Kristen Welker excitedly described how the news helped Hillary Clinton: “This is the issue that they want to talk about. They’ve been calling on him to release his taxes for quite some time and now this gives them more fodder to do it. And that's essentially what the Clinton campaign did yesterday when this story came out.”
Welker added: “So I think that's the tactic you can expect to see from them, this issue of transparency.” The reporter completely missed the glaring hypocrisy of the Clinton campaign attacking someone else on the issue of “transparency.”
Minutes later, Mitchell spoke to the Times reporter, Suzanne Craig, who mysteriously received Trump’s tax documents in the mail: “And have you figured out where they came from?” Craig replied: “They were addressed from the Trump Tower and we were able to separately verify them on the record via the accountant who signed them Jack Mitnik.”
Mitchell followed up: “But you don't know who was the anonymous donor, if you will?” Craig refused to answer: “Usually I’m the one asking the questions, so I hate it when people say ‘no comment’ to me, but I’ve got to give no comment.” Mitchell pressed: “Yeah, I’m not asking who the source was, I'm just asking whether you were able to verify who sent them to you.” Craig insisted: “We’re not commenting on that.”
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Later in the exchange, Mitchell read a statement from the Trump campaign:
And of course, the Trump campaign has put out a statement saying that, “The only news here is that the more than 20-year-old alleged tax document was illegally obtained. A further demonstration that The New York Times, like establishment media in general, is an extension of the Clinton campaign, the Democratic Party, and their global special interests.”
She promptly dismissed the criticism: “So, I'm just putting that out there. That's their comment, of course. But the bottom line is that they’re not denying that this is a legitimate tax document.”
Notice that the allegations of media bias by the Trump campaign matched up with what Welker said about the Times story being perfectly in tune with the spin coming out of the Clinton campaign.
Wrapping up the interview with Craig, Mitchell wondered: “So what is the next step in this? Where does this take us in terms of his taxes, assuming that he doesn't put out his tax return to give us a better picture of what he did, in fact, pay?”
Craig assured that the Times would keep the story alive: “I think going forward we're going to continue to press this issue. Hopefully more returns will surface and we’ll continue to gain a better understanding of exactly what his tax situation was and the various businesses that he has and what they made and what they lost.”
Perhaps she’s hoping for more anonymous leaked documents in the mail.
Here are excerpts of the October 3 coverage on Andrea Mitchell Reports:
12:00 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: It is the billion-dollar October surprise delivered to The New York Times doorstep. Three pages from Donald Trump's 1995 tax returns reporting a loss in excess of – well, a loss of almost a billion dollars. The loss reported by the Times could have allowed Trump to legally avoid paying federal income taxes for 18 years. The Republican nominee has not released subsequent tax returns to reveal whether he did pay federal income tax in that time period.
Joining me now, NBC’s Kristen Welker and Kelly O'Donnell. Welcome both. Well, first of all, Kristen, the Democrats reacting to this of course, but Trump's surrogates haven't denied the legitimacy of these tax returns. And it would be legal. Yet, Donald Trump, in fact, on the defense and striking out against Hillary Clinton on Saturday night.
KRISTEN WELKER: He certainly did, in a number of different ways. First, to how the Clinton campaign is responding to this tax story. This is the issue that they want to talk about. They’ve been calling on him to release his taxes for quite some time and now this gives them more fodder to do it. And that's essentially what the Clinton campaign did yesterday when this story came out. They said, “Okay, well, if you're so smart, if you’re such a genius, release your tax returns. So I think that's the tactic you can expect to see from them, this issue of transparency.
(...)
12:08 PM ET
MITCHELL: Let's talk to the reporter who found those Trump tax documents in her office mailbox. And I’m talking snail mail, not in her e-mail. New York Times reporter Suzanne Craig joining me now. Suzanne, can you tell us first of all, you know how did you see them? Did you realize right away what you had there? Did it look like junk mail?
SUZANNE CRAIG: It didn't look like junk mail, it was addressed from the Trump Tower. And it was a Friday afternoon, I was on deadline and I was walking by my mailbox and saw it out of the corner of my eye. And I opened it, I was really curious what it was. And I just said, “Wow,” when I saw three pages of his 1995 tax returns. I immediately was fairly skeptical about it and just started poring over them and went and got a colleague of mine, David Barstow, who I’ve been working with some Trump-related stuff on. And he was on the phone when I went over, he hung up and we just went into a room and started both poring over them to try to see how we could verify them and also see just all the flaws and just to understand them. Kind of both verify and disprove all at the same time.
MITCHELL: And have you figured out where they came from?
CRAIG: They were addressed from the Trump Tower and we were able to separately verify them on the record via the accountant who signed them Jack Mitnik.
MITCHELL: But you don't know who was the anonymous donor, if you will?
CRAIG: Usually I’m the one asking the questions, so I hate it when people say “no comment” to me, but I’ve got to give no comment.
MITCHELL: Yeah, I’m not asking who the source was, I'm just asking whether you were able to verify who sent them to you.
CRAIG: We’re not commenting on that.
(...)
MITCHELL And of course, the Trump campaign has put out a statement saying that, “The only news here is that the more than 20-year-old alleged tax document was illegally obtained. A further demonstration that The New York Times, like establishment media in general, is an extension of the Clinton campaign, the Democratic Party, and their global special interests.” So, I'm just putting that out there. That's their comment, of course. But the bottom line is that they’re not denying that this is a legitimate tax document. They’re not denying, in fact, that he didn't pay federal income taxes, because they also put out a statement over the weekend saying that he had paid a lot of money in local and state taxes, but never denying that he failed to pay federal income taxes.
CRAIG: No, they haven't denied the reporting. Up until now, they have not.
MITCHELL: So what is the next step in this? Where does this take us in terms of his taxes, assuming that he doesn't put out his tax return to give us a better picture of what he did, in fact, pay?
CRAIG: Well, I think the story that The New York Times ran on Sunday is beginning to understand – there’s been a lot of discussion that Donald Trump didn't pay tax – we now have an understanding of exactly how he might have not paid tax in a number of recent years, and that was through the losses that he incurred by the businesses that he ran that hit the rocks. And I think going forward we're going to continue to press this issue. Hopefully more returns will surface and we’ll continue to gain a better understanding of exactly what his tax situation was and the various businesses that he has and what they made and what they lost.
(...)
