melissa murray in for mehd hassan for nearly half a century it was an obvious, clear norm if you wanted to be th president of the united states you had to show the american public where your money came from it was a norm that began amazingly, with richard nixo during the watergate scandal i 1973, when nixon released hi tax returns to fight off accusations of corruption. in fact, it was nixon s ta filings sparked one of the mos famous quotes in america politics i look on this kind o examination because people hav got to know whether or not their president as a crook, am not a crook, i have earne everything i have got. since then, every america president has released their tax returns or a summary o their taxes. well, all but one. and, you know which one. and you know why, or, at least his explanation of why i will absolutely give my return but i am being audite for two or three years, so,
right? you could argue the doj brings these charges and then the - there s a double effect there. but it s also possible that th voters will reject trump without the justice department involvement. and maybe in the same way we have come to see the pardon of nixon as statesman s like. that will end up seeming like great root for our democracy i feel like it is so hard to tell i think you raise a nuanc question - which might be beyond the scop of the night special we can revisit it. my brief response would be, one, nixon and trump, as debris reminded, us were committing power crimes if those crimes are easier rather than harder they do subvert or distort the democracy itself it s like saying in russia, oh at some point, who indeed win first election, sort, of originally at what point you say th system itself is what is being pressed by crime the second point is the potu