(CROOKS AND LIARS) – Stephanie Ruehl introduced Bloomberg's Tim O'Brien as "one of the few people on planet Earth who has actually seen Donald Trump's taxes. I know you can't dig into what was in them, Tim, but why is it such a big deal?"
"Well, I can talk generally about it. I think the main reason it is a big deal is that if you get the returns and you can go back far enough with the returns, you will see what kind of money he's got coming in from overseas, from places like Russia or China or the Middle East," he said.
"The obvious issue that raises is whether or not income he has from foreign sources compromise his ability to make independent policy, whether he is thinking about public policy making or deal making. I think that is the issue that gets surfaced through the taxes."
"Come on, do you think we'll ever see them?" a skeptical Ruehl said.
"I suspect not. There will be a big battle. And I don't think six years is going to be enough. There was a period where he bought a golf course in Scotland, and there is always the issue about where did the cash come from because he typically throughout his career had used debt to finance his acquisitions. And suddenly they started spending a lot of cash. Eric has said Russia, then said he was 'speaking out of the wrong side of my mouth.' Trump's never really said where the money has come from. but that gets you back to 2000 and 2005 and 2006 and that is not in the period where that the Congress is looking for returns," O'Brien said.