Fox host claims requiring candidates to release tax returns is an attack on voters' rights

Stuart Varney: “That is interfering with the voting rights of half the population who would like to vote for President Trump”

From the April 30 edition of Fox Business' Varney & Co:

Video file

STUART VARNEY (HOST): More than a dozen blue states are pushing to remove President Trump from the 2020 ballot if he doesn't release his tax returns. What? Joining us now, Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz. That's outrageous. You are denying me my voter rights, you have no right to do this. Where am I going wrong? 

CHAFFETZ (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): No, I think you're absolutely right. He's the sitting president of the United States of America. There is no requirement for him to release these financial documents. He's complied with every financial release that he needs with the Federal Elections Commission. There has been no suggestion from any credible source that there's anything improper there. If there is an investigation, it should be done by the IRS, but it's the Democrats fishing and trying to embarrass the president. They have presupposed that he's done something wrong. They just haven't been able to find any evidence of it and they want to see his tax returns.

VARNEY: But to say that if he doesn't reveal his tax returns, he's not on the ballot in, for example, California, that's outrageous. That is interfering with the voting rights of half the population who would like to vote for President Trump. 

CHAFFETZ: It's a pretty simple equation. That's what they're trying to do. It's no mistake. These are all Democratic-controlled states. They're trying to embarrass the president. They're trying to make sure the Republicans and supporters of the president do not have the opportunity to vote for him. If you look at what they're doing in the House, in H.R. 1, Nancy Pelosi and crew have been trying to fundamentally change the way we vote. They want taxpayer funded campaigns, that is, they want you to have to reach into your wallet and give money to politicians so that they can run even more expensive ads on television. It's a concerted effort across the board and they're trying to sue and get the president's tax returns and go after his banks to try to extract financial information as well. 

Previously:

Sean Hannity says efforts to count all Florida votes “purposefully violated the federal law and Florida state law"

Fox's Jeanine Pirro suggests both that there were “more votes than people” in Florida and that a “truckload” of ballots were destroyed

Matt Schlapp: Gillum's call to “count every vote” means “count the votes of people who are not legally allowed to vote”