Is a Cryptic Tweet by Marla Maples a Clue as to Source Behind Trump Tax Leak?

[SirLinksALot]

SOURCE: THE DAILY BEAST

URL: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/02/is-a-cryptic-tweet-by-marla-maples-a-clue-as-to-source-behind-trump-tax-leak.html

by: Olivia Nuzzi


At 1:34 p.m. Sunday, Donald Trump’s second ex-wife, Marla Maples, tweeted a photograph of a pumpkin patch. Does what happened next contain clues that confirm she anonymously mailed Trump’s 1995 tax return to The New York Times?

Maybe, or maybe it’s nothing at all! Please bear with me here.

Maples, who told me last month she’s been practicing Kabbalah for twenty years, captioned the photo of the pumpkins and the hay, “#FallLove Breathe it in as if 2day’s the first day of your life. The kabbalist’s say 2nite Adam&Eve were created. S… [sic]”

In response to the tweet, Marc Caputo, a Politico reporter, said, “TFW you serve up a cold plate of revenge and then appreciate fall as you think about Etz Hayim, the Shekinah & Isaac ben Luria.”

Twitter user @PoliticalBuffs then replied to Maples and Caputo, “wow. How do u know abt those stuff? [sic]”

To which Maples said, “A lot of studying & an open mind to learn” with both a star emoji and a prayer emoji."

On Saturday night, the Times published Trump’s 1995 tax return, a three-page document that revealed he had declared a $916 million loss, which, in the Times’ assessment, means he then potentially could have legally avoided “paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years.”

This is the sparkly unicorn of opposition research relating to the Republican nominee, who has thus far refused to participate in the disclosure of financial documents customary of major party nominees since the Nixon era. Reporters, editors, and publishers wanted Trump’s tax returns so badly that Dean Baquet, the Times’ executive editor, publicly said he’d be willing to go to jail to publish them, which in the end, was apparently an effective means of obtaining them.

But nobody knows who sent them.

The documents were mailed with a New York City postmark and a Trump Tower return address to Times reporter Susanne Craig, who covers City Hall but in August displayed a nuanced understanding of Trump’s business dealings with the story “Trump’s Empire: A Maze of Debts and Opaque Ties.” As far as the public knows, that’s the only information about the sender.

Besides Trump, who would be in possession of such a valuable document?

Maples would.

In 1995, Trump was married to the zen actress (their holy union would come to its unfortunate conclusion two years later). She signed the tax returns “Marla Trump” in her delicate script.

Her spokeswoman, Elissa Buchter, did not respond when asked if she was behind the leak, not that she would have any incentive to. The attorney who represented Maples in her divorce from Trump (and also represented Ivana Trump in her divorce from Trump, but that’s another story), Robert Stephan Cohen, did not respond to two phone calls Saturday night to his office and home.

One source who previously worked for Trump’s campaign speculated, via text, that the leaker might be someone in the casino business, where the mogul made many enemies over the years and might’ve had to present his taxes.

The only thing we can say for certain is that Trump possesses this document, and at least at one point, so did Maples.

But did she do it?

Maples is ambivalent about publicly undermining Trump’s candidacy.

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[montanajoe]

Hmmmm

To coin a phrase "If Marla won't vote for Trump why should I..."

[Luis Gonzalez]

"Sometimes the easiest explanation, however absurd it may appear at the surface, is the truth.

The easiest explanation here is that someone inside the Trump organization (with access to this information) leaked it out.

The list of possible leakers has to start with Trump himself and work its way down."

I posted the above on another thread when the news broke out about the "leaked" tax return.

I was called unintelligent by a Trump supporter.

If indeed it was Marla Maples who "leaked it" then my theory was way more realistic than all the IRS-at-the-beck-and-call-of-the-Clintons conspiracy theories out there.

Six out of ten Americans have an unfavorable view of Trump. It is unrealistic to believe that those numbers are not reflected in his organization to one degree or another.

Expect more "leaks".

[Frank Cannon]

This is a perfect example of looking for something where there is nothing. Her tweets are unintelligible.

[ABX]

hmmm...

The evidence was there based on the signature line marker...

But considering the relationship issue, being the middle woman (at least the middle wife)

She was the original official mistress, she thought she was the usurper queen.

Then she was replaced in the same way she was.

Like middle-child issues magnified.

You notice Tiffany Trump has no prominence in any of the companies compared to Ivanka, Eric, or Donald Jr.

This is an ancient story repeated again and again.

[Suppressed]

IRS-at-the-beck-and-call-of-the-Clintons

So the federal wasn't released because it would break federal law? But the state ones were okay?

[Oceander]

So the federal wasn't released because it would break federal law? But the state ones were okay?

Federal law and state law are two different matters.  Federal law only applies to federal returns, not to state returns.

[Just_Victor]

I posted the above on another thread when the news broke out about the "leaked" tax return.

I was called unintelligent by a Trump supporter.

If indeed it was Marla Maples who "leaked it" then my theory was way more realistic than all the IRS-at-the-beck-and-call-of-the-Clintons conspiracy theories out there.

Six out of ten Americans have an unfavorable view of Trump. It is unrealistic to believe that those numbers are not reflected in his organization to one degree or another.

Expect more "leaks".

In 1995 my tax returns were still filed on paper.  If someone in the government sympathetic to the Clintons were going to release this, then the IRS would have to be storing paper tax returns from 21 years ago.  And then they would have to be in some sort of indexed/searchable/recoverable system.  It's possible they started scanning them when scanners became generally available, but given the realities of government budgeting, the director wouldn't spend the money to do that without some immediate tangible return.  Regardless though, that's a long way to go to get a tax return.  Trump on the other hand probably has files that go back to the 1970s.  Likely kept in a file in his office.  Quick cell phone pic and it's all over.