Donald Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, will release his tax returns next week. The presidential candidate, however, likely will not.
“Donald Trump and I are both going to release our tax returns,” the Indiana governor said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press to be broadcast on Sunday, in which he also called Hillary Clinton “the most dishonest candidate for president of the United States since Richard Nixon”.
“I’ll release mine in the next week. Donald Trump will be releasing his tax returns at the completion of an audit.”
Asked by host Chuck Todd if Trump would release his tax returns before the election on 8 November, 65 days away, Pence said: “Well, we’ll see.”
Trump has said throughout his campaign that he cannot release his tax returns, as they are being audited. There are no laws to stop the release of tax returns under audit – in 1973, Nixon released his while they were under audit.
Clinton, the Democratic nominee, has released her tax returns going back to 1977, in August releasing her returns for 2015. Such releases are customary but not compulsory in presidential races.
In his interview with NBC, Pence also was asked for his reaction to the release on Friday of FBI notes on interviews with Clinton regarding her use of a private email server while secretary of state in the Obama administration.
“Well it’s just more evidence that Hillary Clinton is the most dishonest candidate for president of the United States since Richard Nixon,” Pence said.
Pence agreed that to compare Clinton with the president at the heart of the Watergate scandal was a “tough charge”.
He continued: “What’s evident from the notes, what’s evident from all of the revelations over the last several weeks is that Hillary Clinton operated in such a way to keep her emails, and particularly her interactions while secretary of state with the Clinton Foundation, out of the public reach, out of public accountability.”
He added: “I think it all just … it all truly does disqualify her from serving as president of the United States.”
Todd then challenged Pence on issues of transparency affecting the Trump campaign, leading to Pence’s answers about tax returns.
