Donald Trump Jr. mocked MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Tuesday night after the network released two pages of President Trump’s 2005 tax returns.
“Thank you Rachel Maddow for proving to your #Trump hating followers how successful @realDonaldTrump is & that he paid $40mm in taxes!” Donald Trump Jr. wrote on Twitter.
Maddow teased that the network would reveal details of Trump’s tax returns and later added that she had the president’s 1040 form from 2005.
The White House beat Maddow to it, however, releasing Trump’s tax information ahead of the MSNBC report.
The White House said Trump made $150 million in income and paid $38 million in federal taxes in 2005 and released a statement bashing MSNBC for “illegally” publishing the returns.
“You know you are desperate for ratings when you are willing to violate the law to push a story about two pages of tax returns from over a decade ago,” the White House responded in a statement, adding that it is “totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns.”
Many journalists widely mocked Maddow for taking so long to get to the point on her show, only to talk about two pages of tax returns from more than a decade ago.
Under federal law, publishing other individuals’ tax information without their consent is a felony punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and five years in prison.