Steve Mnuchin got hammered and ended the presser because he refused to respond to questions about Trump's own taxes.
April 26, 2017

During a White House briefing on Trump's new tax plans, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was apparently stumped when asked if Trump will release his tax returns, and how these new plans would effect his own tax bills in the future.

Today's briefing was an exercise in making noise before the first 100 days mark. Mnuchin and Cohn gave the media their basic ideas, like a Trump memo, instead of offering up any concrete solutions on how to get their plans through the Congress.

A reporter asked, "Will the president release his tax returns so that --"

Mnuchin started off by saying Trump has no intention of releasing his tax returns and then pivoted, "The president has no intention, the president has released plenty of information and I think it's given more financial disclosure than anybody else. "

That's a lie since Trump didn't disclose his tax returns.

A reporter asked what a middle-class family of four making sixty thousand dollars would understand after this briefing and Gary Cohn jumped in and said, "A tax cut."

That's also a lie because they wouldn't pay any federal tax anyway.

MSNBC's Peter Alexander then asked the simplest question of all: "Will the president pay more or less taxes as a result of this plan?"

Mnuchin tried to spin saying he couldn't comment because he has no access to Trump's tax returns and then changed the topic, "Our objective, okay, is the reduction in taxes will be offset by significant reduction of deductions and other items so that the effective tax rate, okay, is what we're focused on."

Another reporter confronted the Treasury Secretary and how Trump would benefit personally from their new tax ideas:

"According to our estimations, by his 2005 returns that are out there, getting rid of the ATM would save [Trump] 5.3 million in federal income taxes. So your response to those critics who say a lot of what you've presented here today could save the president [money] or benefit his own businesses."

Mnuchin refused to comment on how these tax cuts for the wealthy would directly help Trump's own pocketbook.

"Again, let me comment again. What this is about is creating jobs and creating economic growth and that's what massive tax cuts and massive tax reform in simplifying the system is what we're going to do."

He then trashed the Alternative Minimum Tax and ended the press conference.

The only responses Trump's economic team has to any questions regarding their tax proposals was to use the age old conservative myth that tax cuts magically create massive jobs growth.

And of course "don't look at Trump's tax returns," look over there, little doggies!

By the way, look at all the thought (and fonts!) that went into their presentation:

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