Republicans say President Trump aided by release of 2005 tax form, Democrats try to stay focused

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- MSNBC host Rachel Maddow's big scoop on President Donald Trump's tax returns may have been more of a flop.

Van Mobley

After promising an "exclusive" report, Maddow on Tuesday, March 14th provided a tax form from 2005 that showed President Trump paid $38 million in taxes on $150 million in income that year. Democrats have long called on the president to release multiple years of tax records, but he has refused, saying he's under an Internal Revenue Service audit.

Democrats said it would be a mistake to focus on the tax issue instead of others, such as health care, while some Republicans said Maddow's show actually helped the president.

"It shows that he made a lot of money. People have said he's a phony. He's not a phony. He made a lot of money," said Van Mobley, a Trump supporter and the village president in Thiensville. "He paid a lot of taxes as well."

Rachel Maddow

Democrats had high hopes for Maddow's show. Brian Fallon, a spokesman for 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, tweeted that the tax returns were the "holy grail."

Joe Zepecki

On Wednesday, some said their party would be committing an error if it continued to focus on the tax records. Joe Zepecki, a Democratic strategist in Milwaukee, said Democrats should hone in on congressional Republicans' plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, which is facing opposition on multiple fronts.

"I think it's fair for Democrats to ask, why won't he just do what every president in the last 30 or 40 years has done (and release his taxes), but I don't think Democrats should focus on this at the expense of the conversation we're having around health care right now," Zepecki said.

The White House itself released the 1040 tax form just ahead of Maddow's report, leading some to question why President Trump couldn't provide more records.

Zepecki noted that the tax form released Tuesday showed the president paid an effective tax rate of 25 percent in 2005, below what many Democrats believe would be appropriate.

Mobley said the story amounted to a sideshow because it distracts from growing the economy and adding new jobs.

"I’m not very much interested in prying into other people’s affairs," he said. "What I would like to see – we’re beginning to see signs of it -- but I’d like to see further signs of economic growth, tax reform."

Wiretapping claims refuted

Meanwhile, a top Republican threw cold water on President Trump's claim that his predecessor had his phones wiretapped during the 2016 election.

U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, the House Intelligence committee chairman, said the president's tweets accusing former President Barack Obama of wiretapping were "wrong."

We don't have any evidence that that took place," Nunes told reporters. "I don't think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower."

President Trump said in a Wednesday interview on Fox News that the tweet about "wiretapping" could mean different things, promising new information in the coming weeks.

Mobley said he still thought it was possible that the federal government did have then-candidate Trump under surveillance last year.

Zepecki, the Democratic strategist, said his party should ignore the issue and focus on health care.

"It’s very dangerous for Democrats if we get into this habit of chasing the latest tweet from this distractor-in-chief," he said.

Rep. Devin Nunes