Trump Loses Another News Cycle

It's another day on which Trump is to"turn the page" by giving a "serious" speech.

The New York Times reports:

On a leafy side street off Independence Square in Kiev is an office used for years by Donald J. Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, when he consulted for Ukraine’s ruling political party. His furniture and personal items were still there as recently as May.

And Mr. Manafort’s presence remains elsewhere here in the capital, where government investigators examining secret records have found his name, as well as companies he sought business with, as they try to untangle a corrupt network they say was used to loot Ukrainian assets and influence elections during the administration of Mr. Manafort’s main client, former PresidentViktor F. Yanukovych.

Handwritten ledgers show $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments designated for Mr. Manafort from Mr. Yanukovych’s pro-Russian political party from 2007 to 2012, according to Ukraine’s newly formed National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Investigators assert that the disbursements were part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipients also included election officials.

Rep. Mark Sanford (R-SC) writes:

To him, demands that he release his tax returns are just a ploy by his opponents and enemies to undermine his campaign. But that obstinacy will have consequences. Not releasing his tax returns would hurt transparency in our democratic process, and particularly in how voters evaluate the men and women vying to be our leaders. Whether he wins or loses, that is something our country cannot afford.

I suggest this not as a partisan against Mr. Trump. I am a conservative Republican who, though I have no stomach for his personal style and his penchant for regularly demeaning others, intends to support my party’s nominee because of the importance of filling the existing vacancy on the Supreme Court, and others that might open in the next four years. However, my ability to continue to do so will in part be driven by whether Mr. Trump keeps his word that he will release his tax records.

Raw Story reports:

Trump campaign spokesperson Katrina Pierson can’t even catch a break on Fox News.
After incorrectly asserting during a CNN appearance on Saturday that President Barack Obama had invaded Afghanistan, Pierson showed up Sunday on Fox News to defend Donald Trump’s decision not to release his tax returns.

Weekend host Arthel Neville.pressed Pierson on whether he was hiding something.

Pierson insisted that lawyers had advised Trump not to release his tax returns while he was being audited.

“This really has become much of a novelty in presidential campaigns,” the Trump surrogate opined.

“What has become a novelty?” Neville interrupted.

“Just simply releasing tax returns,” Pierson stated.

“It’s been going on since the 1970s,” Neville pointed out. “It’s a tradition, not a novelty. The voters want to know.”

“It’s a novelty tradition!” Pierson shot back.