The person who leaked President Donald Trump's 2005 tax return to the media "ought to go to jail," says former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
"First of all, the release of that tax return is a felony," Gingrich said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom" Wednesday. "They should impanel a grand jury, and they should find out who released it and that person ought to go to jail."
He added that the returns showed that Trump, "as a smart, rich person, he uses lawyers and accountants to minimize his tax liability, and yet he still paid 25 percent of his income, which, for a very wealthy person, is a pretty high number. He is a remarkably successful guy who has played by the rules."
Second, ["The Rachel Maddow Show"] is fake news, so the fact that she had a fake news hysteria shouldn't surprise anyone," he said of MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who revealed the returns Tuesday night.
In a statement Tuesday night, the White House said:
"Before being elected president, Mr. Trump was one of the most successful businessmen in the world with a responsibility to his company, his family, and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required.
"That being said, Mr. Trump paid $38 million even after taking into account large-scale depreciation for construction, on an income of more than $150 million, as well as paying tens of millions of dollars in other taxes such as sales and excise taxes and employment taxes and this illegally published return proves just that."
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