title:  Editors For Two Major Outlets Would Risk Jail If It Meant Getting Trump’s Taxes Out To The Public
text: While the mainstream media and the Hillary-haters go on about her health and her campaign s refusal to disclose her pneumonia, two editors for major newspapers are thinking that Trump s taxes are still a really big deal. A huge deal. So gigantic a deal that they d be willing to go to jail if it meant making them public.Dean Baquet, executive editor for The New York Times, and Bob Woodward, associate editor for the Washington Post, recently attended a forum where they spoke with Laura Poitras, the award-winning filmmaker behind Edward Snowden s story. Poitras asked them both if they would publish Trump s taxes should they get hold of them. Both editors said yes, and they would argue with the lawyers who would warn against that course of action to do it. Baquet, explaining his reasoning, said Trump s  whole campaign is built on his success as a businessman, and his wealth  and the tax returns could shed light on that. Some things you have to do,  Woodward said in agreeing with Baquet. Trump doesn t have anything to hide, obviously, which is why his own running mate has released 10 years  worth of taxes, but Trump himself hasn t released a single page. He keeps hiding behind an audit, even when told repeatedly that Richard Nixon released his taxes while being audited and the IRS itself saying that excuse is full of bull cookies.The thing is, Trump and his businesses do so much with money that he could be under audit forever, meaning we ll never get to see the sheer perfection and wonder that are that man s tax returns. In truth, there s a growing possibility that those amazing returns aren t so amazing, and will make Trump look worse than he already does.Trump could take a page from Mitt Romney, who paid a hefty price for waiting to release his returns, but he thinks Mitt s choice to finally release them is what cost him the election. Maybe he s afraid the same thing will happen to him.Trump s charitable donations, such as they are, have been under scrutiny, his business practices have come into question, and there are some who are even questioning his overall wealth. If his taxes reveal a whole lot of underhandedness and flat-out lies (which they likely do), nobody with working brain cells will trust him.Trump has also said he works very hard to pay as little tax as possible, which doesn t sit well with many Americans. Maybe his tax returns show how he gets out of paying taxes in a way we little people, who he promises to stand for, can t.There s all sorts of speculation about why he won t release his returns. But he should watch out   there are two editors for two major newspapers who would risk going to jail if it meant making that information public.Featured image by Brian Blanco/Getty Images