Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden took to the Senate floor to introduce S.2979, the Presidential Tax Transparency Act. The law would require presidential candidates to release their tax returns, something every single candidate in the last nine presidential elections has voluntarily provided to the public. But not professional grifter and current Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Co-sponsor Sen. Elizabeth Warren spoke to her Senate colleagues to promote the bill and she landed numerous body blows to Donald Trump in the process. From the very start of her speech, she went straight for him. A partial transcript and full video of her comments are below:
Now, Donald Trump makes a big show of strutting around pretending to be tough, but he's too chicken to show his tax returns to the American people. He's had a million excuses, but we all know why Donald Trump isn't releasing his taxes: He's hiding something.
She went on to note many Republicans agree with the call for Trump to release his taxes, and noted the public has an absolute right to know about his dealings with foreign governments and leaders:
Those tax returns would show his personal deals with foreign governments, arrangements that could put him in direct conflict with American interests. We already know about some of trump's foreign dealings. We know that he has gotten Russian oligarchs with close ties to Vladimir Putin to fund his businesses. Is he still doing that? We know that he has financial ties to political dynasties in Turkey. We know that he's wrapped up in aggressive pipeline plans in north and east India. The list of countries where trump has financial conflicts is staggering: South Korea, India, Turkey, Libya, Russia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates.
Remember the Libyan dictator Gadhafi? Back in 2009 trump was set to lease his own estate to the dictator, but local protests shut that down. So who else has he been leasing his home to? Putin? I mean maybe Trump's next business will be Airbnb for dictators. Tax returns will not tell us everything, but we know that they would tell us something about what trump is hiding. [emphasis added]
Donald Trump praises brutal dictators and murderers. He threatens our allies. He denigrates democracy right here at home. He's right out front with all of that stuff. So what is so bad that Donald Trump has to hide it? Would his tax returns show how deeply Donald Trump's personal financial interests run directly counter to the national interests of the United States of America? It's eight weeks before a national election. Everyone -- everyone -- wants Donald Trump to do what other candidates, Republican candidates and democratic
SNAP! Sen. Warren is absolutely right. The American public has a right to know. Watch her deliver blow after blow to Donald Trump for hiding his tax returns from the public:
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