Despite White House confirmation of the figures, both President Donald Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. blasted MSNBC’s Rachel Maddowand an investigative journalist, who revealed parts of the president’s 2005 tax return, for spreading “fake news.” Maddowhad journalist David Cay Johnston on her show Tuesday night to discuss the long sought-after tax return, which indicates the president paid$38 million in taxes on more than $150 million in income. RELATED:Senate Dems make Trump tax returns a national security issue The White House confirmed the figures after Maddowannounced she would release the details on her show, with Johnston, who said he received the pages via mail.
Despite confirmation, Trump Jr. took to Twitter Tuesday evening, mocking Maddow for the release and criticizing MSNBC for “fake news,” one of his father’s favorite criticisms of mainstream media outlets.
BREAKING NEWS: 12 years ago @realDonaldTrump made a lot of money and paid a lot in taxes #scandal #thankyouMaddow
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 15, 2017
Watching the media aka #fakenews implode on tv now because they got what they wanted is simply awesome. #thankyoumaddow #TrumpTaxReturns
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 15, 2017
So after months of saying @realdonaldtrump paid no taxes and was a bad businessman etc etc… https://t.co/QqD7vKKg19
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 15, 2017
The president, comparatively, was silent on Twitter Tuesday night, but didn’t skip a beat early Wednesday, tweeting “Does anybody really believe that a reporter, who nobody ever heard of, ‘went to his mailbox’ and found my tax returns?”
Does anybody really believe that a reporter, who nobody ever heard of, “went to his mailbox” and found my tax returns? @NBCNews FAKE NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 15, 2017
Johnston is a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist, specializing in tax and economic reporting. He has known the president for nearly three decades, and released a book about him during the 2016 campaign, “The Making of Donald Trump.”