Donald Trump's refusal to release his tax returns before November's general election is a "ticking time bomb" that threatens to destroy not only Trump's chances of being elected president, but could bring down other Republicans on the ticket,
John Fund writes at National Review.
For months, Trump has said he would be
willing to release his returns "at the appropriate time" but that he could not do so until an IRS audit was completed.
Tax experts, and the IRS itself, have said that
being under audit does not prevent a person from releasing personal tax returns.
This week, Trump said he
will not release his returns before the November election, which Fund called "Trump's bait-and switch-style at its most dangerous."
Fund suggested Trump delegates and alternates should write Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, an open letter saying they will abstain from the first vote at the party convention in Cleveland, thus denying him the 1,237 delegates needed for the nomination.
"The delegates should not give Republicans a time bomb that could help take down GOP control of the House or the Senate, or both," Fund argues.
Trump rebuffed the recent suggestion by a friend that he release the returns ahead of the convention, as all presidential candidates have done for decades, to make anything in them "old news" by Election Day.
Trump reportedly replied that if any leaks occurred, as happened with Mitt Romney in 2012, "I'll say they aren't mine."
Fund speculated, as have others in the past, that Trump's real reluctance is because his net worth — while impressive — is still far smaller than the almost $9 billion he claims.
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