Trump's tax returns, Jan. 6 committee interview transcripts released

[0:00] All right, our other top story this hour, the House Ways and Means Committee has released redacted versions of six years of Donald Trump's tax returns. [0:07] The committee already released summary reports last week concluding that the IRS failed to audit the former president's taxes. [0:16] The release of his tax returns earlier today caps off a multi-year legal battle between Trump and lawmakers that ended last month [0:23] when the Supreme Court rejected the former president's bid to keep his tax returns private. [0:28] Trump lambasted the records release earlier today. Take a listen. [0:33] Now in an outrageous abuse of power, the radical Democrat Congress illegally obtained and leaked my personal tax returns, [0:41] which show only that I've had tremendous success. It's been an amazing period of time. [0:48] The seizure of these confidential records was completely unconstitutional. [0:52] There is no legitimate legislative purpose for their action. [0:57] And if you look at what they've done, it's so sad for our country. [1:02] Well, joining us now to talk a bit more about this, we have CBS News congressional correspondent Scott McFarlane. [1:07] Scott, thank you for taking some time here. [1:09] First off, how do these tax returns support the committee's assertion that the IRS failed to audit the former president? [1:16] And kind of what happens next on a legislative level here? [1:20] Let's talk about what happens next. [1:22] For those who wanted thousands of pages of heavy reading during a holiday week, this day is for you. [1:28] More to come, by the way. Let's start with the tax records. [1:31] Congress has made the argument in court to get these tax records that they have to consider, review, [1:36] or change how they oversee the IRS, the Internal Revenue Service, and how it administers and oversees presidential tax records. [1:45] So, what they're going to argue after releasing these tax returns, and what they've argued in the report they've already released earlier this month, [1:52] is that the IRS wasn't doing the required, necessary audits of presidential tax records. [1:59] In Trump's case, that they weren't auditing him as they were supposed to and as Trump had claimed. [2:03] So, what the Congress is going to do by releasing these tax returns is lean into an argument they may need new legislation [2:10] to change IRS requirements to better staff, better fund, or better administer their work looking at presidential taxes. [2:18] They may also consider, Jared, new legislation requiring any major party presidential candidate to release his or her taxes [2:25] and not block the release, as Trump has done for the past six years. [2:30] A couple of lawmakers kind of bringing that up on social media so far. [2:34] I know that this is a lot of documents to look through. [2:36] I opened up the file and it took a couple of minutes just to download. [2:39] What else have we seen in this? [2:42] What does it reveal? [2:44] Well, what the Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee argue is that these documents, [2:48] as slow as they load, reveal that Trump was taking deductions for which he didn't have proper documentation [2:53] or to which he was not entitled properly. [2:56] So, they are making the argument he was averting or skating past taxes he could have been paying to the U.S. Treasury. [3:02] Trump has made the argument, both in 2016 on the campaign trail and in debates against Hillary Clinton, [3:08] and again in that self-produced video you showed, that that shows him to be a proudly successful businessman. [3:13] The navigating the U.S. tax code shows that he is accomplished as a business person. [3:19] But politically, that may not serve him as he tries to run for the White House again in 2024, [3:25] where there's always a visceral concern among voters that the powerful and the politically connected [3:30] don't pay the same type of taxes they pay. [3:33] But in terms of legal exposure, that's far from clear, in part because, Jared, [3:38] it's going to take many hours, if not days, for even experts to navigate their way through [3:43] what is clearly some complex tax records from a businessman and president. [3:48] Yeah, and you were talking about this, sir, because there is the legislative side of things, [3:53] but also the political. [3:54] Could the release of these records impact or factor into former President Trump's run for the White House in 2024, [4:02] and anybody else, for that matter? [4:04] Such a good but challenging question, because for most political leaders, this could be kryptonite. [4:11] Showing taxes avoided, taxes not paid, would be politically toxic or crippling for most political leaders. [4:20] But for Trump, there's always this potential use or galvanization of bad news or investigations [4:27] to generate heat and passion among his supporters. [4:31] Every time somebody investigates Donald Trump, he, to a degree, politically celebrates it as a way to mobilize his base. [4:40] So that's a difficult question to answer, but I'll tell you what, we're going to find out over the next two years [4:45] what all of these investigations from his taxes to Georgia to New York to Mar-a-Lago to January 6th do to his political future. [4:52] Gotcha. I want to shift gears a little bit, because there was some other breaking news coming out of the Trump orbit, essentially. [4:58] We saw the January 6th committee earlier today releasing more transcripts of witness testimonies. [5:04] What can you tell us with that? [5:06] Yeah, I wasn't kidding. If you want to read thousands of pages this week, this is your day. [5:10] There are about a dozen or so more transcripts released. [5:13] Jenny Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is asked about election fraud claims. [5:19] She responds that millions of people believed it, so she was looking into it. [5:23] Rudy Giuliani's deposition will soon be read through by our team. [5:26] But one final note, I read through Trump aide Jason Miller's deposition to this panel. [5:32] He makes pretty clear Donald Trump on the night of January 6th after the attack, Jared, [5:36] still didn't believe it was Trump's supporters responsible. [5:39] It's going to be interesting to see how any of this plays politically or when it comes to the courts as well. [5:44] Thanks a lot. [5:45] Absolutely.