| | | | Donald Trump's tax dodge |  | | Start here: There is absolutely nothing stopping Donald Trump from authorizing the release of his past returns.
Not the audit he has claimed to be under for years. (Side note: We have no way of knowing if Trump has been under audit, but we do know it would not preclude him from releasing his taxes.)
Not that his finances are very complicated, as he often claims.
Not that people don't care to see them, as Kellyanne Conway has said.
And not, as Trump said today, because the decision is up to his lawyers.
Asked whether he would instruct the IRS commissioner to comply with a request by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts, for his tax returns from 2013 through 2018, Trump offered on Thursday: "They'll speak to my lawyers and they'll speak to the attorney general."
Which is a) not an answer to the question and b) is totally meaningless. Trump is the President. If he wanted the returns released to Neal, they would be in the Massachusetts Democrat's hands within a matter of days.
The simple fact -- and this has been obvious to anyone paying attention for the last several years -- is that Trump made the decision at some point early in his 2016 campaign that the flack he would take for not releasing any returns would be nothing compared to what would happen if he did release them.
The Point: This isn't about what Trump can legally do. This is about what Trump wants to do. And he really doesn't want his tax returns going public.
-- Chris | | "Nothing wrong with drinking a beer on a Thursday morning."
-- Beto O'Rourke explaining that while he's not going to have a beer at his 10 a.m. campaign stop at a bar in Iowa, he wouldn't judge anyone there who did. | | | THROWBACK THURSDAY: 💸FUNDRAISING EDITION 💸 | | Sure, Bernie Sanders raised some serious cash this quarter, but how does it stack up with past presidential cycles?
CNN fact checker Holmes Lybrand checks that out -- and compares the latest fundraising numbers with candidates in previous election cycles, exclusively for The Point. He writes:
Several 2020 candidates have released their Q1 fundraising numbers so far, with Bernie Sanders coming out on top at $18.2 million, Kamala Harris at $12 million, Beto O'Rourke at $9 million and Pete Buttigieg at $7 million. (Now, some of these candidates have been in the race a bit longer than others – looking at you, Andrew Yang – so these numbers aren't a perfect look at the fundraising trajectory.)
Let's compare it to the 2016 cycle's cast of Democratic characters:
Hillary Clinton raised $45 million in her Q1 fundraising window, with Bernie Sanders chasing after with $15 million. Sanders would go on to almost match Clinton in the third quarter.
In the first quarter of the 2012 cycle, Obama brought in around $46 million.
What's crazy about the 2008 cycle is how Hillary "Establishment" Clinton and Barack "Who?" Obama brought in almost the same amount in the first quarter -- $25 million for Obama and $26 million for Clinton. The next Dem down, John Edwards, raised $14 million.
Next: 2000, and we'll go no further!
In the first quarter of 2000's election cycle, Al Gore raised $8.9 million (which would be around $13 million now). The New York Times reported at the time that this amount "has scared off all challengers for the Democratic nomination except Bill Bradley." In the same time, Bradley had raised about half of Gore's total.
Have a throwback fact to be checked? Drop us a line! Email holmes.lybrand@cnn.com. | | | Lauren is loving Vampire Weekend's latest release "This Life." | |  | | Today's topic: Donald Trump punted on his threat to close the border. | | WATCH: ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS | |  | Money, money, money: What does it mean in 2020? | | Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Beto O'Rourke, Pete Buttigieg and other 2020 candidates have been flaunting their fundraising numbers. Here's why cash is king in political campaigns.
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LAUREN'S CAMPAIGN TRAIL LATEST | | Tim Ryan: Becomes the 17th Democrat running for president, making his announcement on The View this morning. Ryan, an Ohio congressman, unsuccessfully challenged Nancy Pelosi for the House speakership.
Eric Swalwell: Could be the 18th Democrat to run for president when he reportedly will announce his own run next week, per Edward-Isaac Dovere. He's expected to run a single-issue campaign around gun control.
Pete Buttigieg: Is teasing a very "special announcement" coming on April 14 in South Bend, Indiana. Whatever could it be??
Bernie Sanders: Still won't give any specifics about when he will release his tax returns.
Stacey Abrams: Says a presidential run is "third" on her list of things to do -- after running for US Senate or seeking the Georgia governorship.
Beto O'Rourke: Called charter schools a "good idea" in 2012 -- a position he's since moved away from, according to a new KFile report. | |
QUEER EYE FOR THE CAPITOL HILL | | Four members of the Fab Five livened up the halls of Congress today.
The stars of the Netflix "Queer Eye" reboot made a much-documented trip to the House, with visits to Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Steny Hoyer.
Jonathan Van Ness, Bobby Berk, Tan France, and Antoni Porowski were on the Hill to advocate for the Equality Act, a bill that would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to ban discrimination based on sexual identity.
Pelosi even offered up her own makeover services, tweeting: "Feel free to let us know when you want @RepAOC & me to fill in next." | | | | | | |
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