Wolf Blitzer is a reliable professional.
A reliable professional, in that he didn't burst out laughing at Mike Pence when the Republican Vice Presidential nominee said that Donald Trump's tax returns are a "distraction."
Distraction from what, exactly? Distraction from what a bigot he is? How misogynistic his supporters are? How badly he is likely to lose this election?
It's not a distraction from how much he owes Vladimir Putin, morally and financially. It's the smoking gun, dude.
Anyway, here's the transcript:
WOLF BLITZER: Hillary Clinton has released more than 20 years of her tax returns. Donald Trump hasn't released any of his tax returns, and I understand the past few years he's still under audit, that's why he says he's not going to release it, but everything up to 2008 is not under audit, why not release those returns?
MIKE PENCE: Donald Trump has already released...voluminuous information...as the law requires.
WOLF BLITZER: we don't know how much of his income went to taxes, We don’t know how much charitiable.... There's a lot the American public doesn’t know... I’m sure you would agree, you released your tax for ten years. Don’t you think the American public deserves that information? This is the President, potentially, of the United States.
MIKE PENCE: I do, and so does Donald Trump. he's made it very clear, that after the
WOLF BLITZER: But what about the earlier years?...The polls show the American people want to know what is in…
MIKE PENCE: well, I think the American public also wants to know where 33,000 e-mails are. ...Pay to Play in the State Department
WOLF BLITZER: a lot of people have suggested that sounds like an excuse for not releasing. The IRS itself says Trump is under no obligation to not release that information. He can do so even as the audit continues. Nixon did it.
MIKE PENCE: right. He's also under no obligation to release his tax returns. I know it's become a tradition. situation. ...when I was at the Reagan Library. Reagan you'll be interested to know Reagan released one year of tax returns, and he was unhappy with the invasion of privacy when he did it. Your viewers deserve to know, ...that Donald Trump and I and other candidates in this will release his tax returns when it is the appropriate time.
WOLF BLITZER: Without violating what countless lawyers are telling him about the audit. He could at the minimum release the amount of income he had, the set of taxes he paid, the amount of charitable expenses.
MIKE PENCE: I think the commitment Donald Trump has made is that when the routine audit is done, he'll release it in its totality, not piece by piece….
WOLF BLITZER: I guess the question is, why isn’t Trump living up to the Mike Pence standard?
MIKE PENCE: He's lived in the public eye for a long time. He's totally been transparent about what the law requires in those federal filings. The routine will be out. I know members of the media are not very interested in this. I don't hear a lot of people on the Trump as I was with more a more Americans are being drawn to this.
WOLF BLITZER: We're not going to get any information about his taxes until the audit is complete, including earlier years when those audits were complete?
MIKE PENCE: I think that's the right answer, but again, I just want to tell you, this is not what the American people are talking about. I respect the role of the media. You know I have throughout my career in asking all the tough questions. But I think the American people are concerned about their future. They're concerned about a struggling economy, about a 1% rate of growth in the last quarter. There is a lot of people hurting out there.
