Donald Trump Cites Fox News Host To Defend Unprecedented Refusal To Release Tax Returns

Trump: “But You Said Yourself, If You Were A Lawyer, You Wouldn't Do It”

From the July 28 edition of Fox News' On the Record with Greta Van Susteren:

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GRETA VAN SUSTEREN (HOST): If Secretary Clinton were willing to give up the transcripts from her Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street speeches, would you be willing to give up, or surrender, or let the media see your tax returns and, if it's not -- at least not for the years not currently in audit? 

DONALD TRUMP: Well, one thing, I don't think the transcripts, they don't mean very much to me. What really means something are the 33,000 emails that she deleted. That's what I think she should be giving up. She should find out -- there is a way of finding emails, and I've always heard that, when you're in -- whether it's litigation or otherwise, it's virtually impossible to get rid of emails, to delete emails, and make them permanently gone. I would be very interested, but not with transcripts, I'm not interested in her transcripts. I'm much more interested in her emails. What would happen? Now, with that being said, you're the one that said recently, and I have used your name a couple of times, that if I had a client who was under a routine audit by the IRS, I wouldn't let him go public until the audit is over. Now, you said that on your show, and you were speaking then not as a great and talented anchor, but you were speaking as a lawyer, and somebody that knows what they are talking about. But you said yourself, if you were a lawyer, you wouldn't do it. 

VAN SUSTEREN: I said as a lawyer for the years in audit, absolutely. But, now let me be a political person or a media person. For the years at least not in audit, because there are certainly years not in audit, to give sort of a general idea, and sort of call off the dogs and the people who are after your tax returns to look at them, why not release those that are not in audit, even if they go back a number of years? 

TRUMP: Well, I haven't had much pressure. I'll be honest, most people don't care about it. The only ones that care are certain people in the media. I've had very, very little pressure. And, I remember with Mitt Romney four years ago. Everybody wanted his -- and his is a peanut compared to mine. It's like a peanut. It's very small. Not nearly as big a document. I mean, mine, you saw the picture where it's two or three feet high. Now, they finally got it in September. He decided to give it, and they found a couple of little minor things. Little things that didn't mean anything. He did nothing wrong. By the way, Mitt Romney did nothing wrong. But when they gave them. They found a couple of little sentences. If you remember, Harry Reid lied about it, he told a dirty lie. And Mitt gave that, and after he gave it, they found a little sentence and they made such a big deal. He might have lost the election over that. 

Previously:

Trump Uses Fox's Greta Van Susteren To Justify Not Releasing Tax Returns

Here Are All The Reasons Media Think Trump Is Not Releasing His Tax Returns

Bloomberg's John Heilemann: The Media Should Challenge Trump On His Refusal To Release His Tax Returns