Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney called on Donald Trump to release his tax records Wednesday in a statement posted to Romney’s Facebook page.
In a tweet linking to the post, the 2012 Republican nominee for president called on the presumptive 2016 nominee to “tear down that tax wall,” and said Trump should release the returns for the purposes of “public scrutiny.”
“It is disqualifying for a modern-day presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters, especially one who has not been subject to public scrutiny in either military or public service,” Romney wrote. “Tax returns provide the public with its sole confirmation of the veracity of a candidate’s representations regarding charities, priorities, wealth, tax conformance, and conflicts of interest.”
Romney also insinuated the returns could reveal “inappropriate associations with foreign entities, criminal organizations, or other unsavory groups” and that forgoing such scrutiny for someone running for president is “simply too great a risk.” Journalists who have covered Trump have alleged the New York real-estate mogul has had connections to the mob, though Romney did not level any specific charge on Wednesday.
Romney has called on Trump to release his tax returns before, in a March speech criticizing the Republican frontrunner’s personal character.
“Think of Donald Trump’s personal qualities: the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third-grade theatrics,” Romney said in his March 3 speech. “Imagine your children and your grandchildren acting the way he does.”
Since that speech, Trump has claimed that he cannot release his returns since the Internal Revenue Service is auditing him. In his Wednesday post, Romney had a rejoinder.
“Mr. Trump says he is being audited. So? There is nothing that prevents releasing tax returns that are being audited. Further, he could release returns for the years immediately prior to the years under audit. There is only one logical explanation for Mr. Trump’s refusal to release his returns: there is a bombshell in them. Given Mr. Trump’s equanimity with other flaws in his history, we can only assume it’s a bombshell of unusual size,” he wrote.
Romney, a wealthy businessman himself, released his recent tax returns during his 2012 run for president.
