haven't solicited something getting it over the transom. it's entirely possible that donald sent this to me. >> reporter: david cay johnston unveiled the first two pages of mr. trump's return on rachel maddow's msnbc show showing president trump paid $38 million in taxes on an income of more than $150 million. that's a tax rate of 25.3%. the white house confirmed the numbers in a statement. but said the president paid no more tax than legally required. after leaving michigan, president trump heads to tennessee to help sell the republican plan to repeal and replace obamacare to the public. even after meeting with president trump tuesday, conservative lawmakers rallied against the republican plan outside the u.s. capitol wednesday. >> the leadership in the house is weak kneed so they are giving you something that's half as much as obamacare but doesn't fix the problem. >> reporter: vice president mike pence is making his case for house republicans to support the bill with a series of meetings on capitol hill today. craig boswell, cbs news, th

. >> came in the mail over the transom, and there's absolutely nothing improper about journalists if you haven't solicited something getting it over the transom by the way let me point out it's entirely possible donald sent this to me. >> david cay johnston unveil the first two pages of mr. trauma pops return on a show. the show president trump paid $38 million in taxes on income of more than 150 millions dollars that's attacks rate of 25-point 3%. the white house confirmed the numbers in a statement but said the president paid no more tax than legally required. after leaving michigan, president trump heads to tennessee to help sell the republican plan to repeal and replace obama care to the publ public. the president met with conservative lawmakers wednesday including texas senator ted cruz who remains unconvinced. >> raises the good question how house members would want to vote for this bill and pay the political price for voting for this bill if it is doomed failure in the senate. >> reporter: vice-president mike pence is making his case for house republicans to support the bill w

how it got under the transom for johnson, who will be on the show in a little bit. >> no. we don't know. i'll take diversion and go right to distraction. which is basically the same word. bottom line is donald trump, his administration under incredible pressure right now. wiretapping issue is starting to come to a head. supposed to get answers on monday but manu raju is saying planning to tell whether or not the white house is investigating alleged ties between donald trump and russia, supposed to happen tomorrow. and health care bill on life support at best at this point. >> no pun intended. >> it just worked. go to the idea of the distraction. unsolicited long time democratic activist worked on lot of presidential campaigns sends e-mail that said trump had it leaked because it showed he paid taxes and public will believe trump pays taxes and a lot. brilliant tactic i've seen over the decades. >> give me a break. >> not a washington, d.c., type of player. >> we always think donald trump is playing four dimensional chess. he's sitting in bathroom tweeting to distract from

. >> came in the mail over the transom, there's nothing improper if getting it over the transom. >> the president tweeted, does anybody really believe a reporter who nobody ever heard of went to his mailbox and found my tax returns? fake news. $150 million with $100 million writeoff making his effective tax rate 25%. the president had a tax than legally required. the president facing tax questions today as he heads to michigan to announce he's rolling back obama fuel stan darz and to nashville to push the health plan. >> to make insurance available to everybody, yes, that's what he intends to do. >> that's like saying everyone has access to a rolls royce, if you can't afford it, it doesn't feel like much access. >> reporter: 24 million people will lose coverage. >> slow down and get it right. >>> you're not going to get 60 votes to buy insurance across state lines. >> new numbers on the cost of health care and president's taxes with the white house challenging both. >> now, it's important to note what we don't learn from the one-year tax return, it doesn't tell us where the president's

. >> came in the mail over the transome. there is absolutely nothing improper about journalists getting it over the transome. >> reporter: the white house tried to release the same information and said it was illegal. you know you are desperate for ratings if you are willing to violate the law to push a story about two pages of tax returns from over a decade ago. trump's refusal to release his returns became an ongoing campaign issue with hillary clinton suggesting he may not have paid tacks at all. in reality the effective tax rate was only a bit below what average top earners were paying that year. >> if donald trump paid what was the equivalent i guess of about 25% in federal taxes. >> yes. >> federal income taxes, i think he needs a better tax attorney. is that -- i mean, if i were trump, i wouldn't be worried about this at all. >> still democrats will keep up the heat on trump, arguing that his claim that he can't release the returns because of audits just doesn't hold up. we don't know where these documents originally

solicited something, getting it over the transom. and let me point out it's entirely possible donald sent this to me. donald trump has over the years leaked things. the very sleazy girl-on-girl pictures of the first lady in the "new york post" may have come from donald. the front pages of the state tax returns we had that were sent to the "new york times" and the "new york daily news" last fall may have come from donald. donald has a long history of leaking material about himself when he thinks it's in his interests. >> do we have reason to believe that those documents you just described there were leaked by him or is it just a possibility? >> it's a possibility and it could have been leaked by someone at his direction. but with donald, you never know. donald creates his own reality and he says things that aren't true, he says things and denies he said them. he lives in this world that isn't the world where you and i live of verifiable facts so, yes, i think i have to include that in the list of possibilities where it came from. >> w

absolutely nothing improper about journalists if you haven't solicited something, getting it over the transom and by the way it's entirely possible that donald sent this to me. >> reporter: david k. johnston unveiled the fest two pages of mr. trump's return on ms rachel maddow row. the show -- show. it showed president trump paid $38 million in taxes on income of more than $150 million, that's 25.3% tax rate. the white house confirmed the numbers in a statement. but said the president paid no more tax than legally required. after leaving michigan, president trump heads to tennessee to help sell the republican plan to repeal and replace obamacare to the public. the president met with conservative lawmakers wednesday including texas senator ted cruz. who remains unconvinced. >> brings up a good question of why house members would want to vote for this bill and pay the political price for voting for the bill. if it is doomed to failure in the senate. >> reporter: vice president mike pence is making his case for house republicans to support the bill, with a series of meetings on capitol hill toda

>> came in the mail overthe t n transom. >> reporter: david k. johnston claimed on "the rachel mad dough show" he received the first two pages anonymously in the mail. >> it's entirely possible done-month-old sent this to me. he has leaked all sort of things. >> reporter: negative headlines about the gop health care plan to replace failure to back up his claim that president obama wiretapped him and investigations on russia. >> what do you the -- the russians have on him personally and politically? what will the tax returns tell us about that? >> reporter: this morning the white house fired back attacking media and calling this leaked document illegally obtained by authentic. we still don't know key information like his source of income or charitable donations. diane and kendis. >> all right, our kenneth moton in d.c., thank you. >>> kenneth mentioned the republican health care plan. well protesters turned out in the snow at house speaker paul ryan's office in wisconsin to denounce the plan. >> now, ryan and others who helped craft the proposal a

they did do something the other day which was curious to do a transom report, who knows where that came from. what we want to see are the president's tax returns in the same manner that every president and candidate for president, nominee of a party for president, has done since nixon, but of course that was demanded. but then followed through with , wonderful president gerald ford. if the president wants to strengthen our security, he should come clean with the american people. with that, i would be happy to take any questions you may have. i have some other things to share with you. yes, ma'am? reporter: the budget the republicans have already started to distance themselves from parts they don't like. in the end, will they end up voting this budget? and do you think it's something enough to answer for in 2018? ms. pelosi: i can't see how this budget can survive the light of day when you think of all the -- for example, the n.i.h., $6 billion. 1/5 of the budget. so that they can spend more money on defense. now what is their mission? , what is their purpose, what is our security missio

. >> came in the mail over the transom.hing improper about journalist, if you haven't solicited something, getting it over the transom. >> reporter: president trump paid $38 million on federal taxes on more than $150 million in income, giving the president an effective rate of 25.3%. in an msnbc interview, johnston said he did not know the source, but speculated it might even be mr. trump himself. >> donald has a long history of leaking material about himself when he thinks it's in his interest. >> shortly afterwards don junior chimed in, thank you rachel may dow for proving to your trump hating followers how successful donald trump is and he paid $40 million in taxes. despite a tradition of presidential nominees releasing tax returns, mr. trump has refused to do so. the trump campaign argued that the public didn't need or want to know. >> i will release them as soon as the audit -- i've been under audit almost for 15 years. >> reporter: his refusal became an issue when "the new york times" obtained his 1995 state tax retur

there's nothing improper about journalists getting over the transom. >> the president tweeted this morning does anybody that a report their nobody ever heard of went to his mailbox and found his tax return? fake news he said. nbc news will have much more at 6:30. >>> today the senate voted to confirm dan coates, president trump's choice for national intelligence director. lawmakers approved the former indiana senator in a vote of 85-12. mr. coates will oversee 16 intelligence agencies. >>> despite a republican backed plan to repeal and replace obamacare, millions of americans are still buying in. the government reports more than 12 million signed up for coverage under the affordable care act. another 765,000 signed up under an option called the basic health plan used in new york and minnesota. >>> now back to our first alert weather. we will not be putting away those winter coats any time soon. >> tammie souza is here and the cold sticking around. >> even when it warms up, it will be cold, colder than we normally should be. did you spend much time outside today? i didn't. it was awfully wi

. >> the two pages came under the transom? sent to you? >> came to my home. i was in palm beach when it arrived. >> do you think it's convenient it's 2005, year he paid taxes and that was released? >> i don't know why whoever sent them to me did so. my suspicion is because i have written a great deal about negative incomes and failure to pay attention. one of the ways very wealthy people get out of paying taxes or pay much less and about the alternative minimum tax. and those pages show, if wasn't for that, trump would have been taxed on the $152 million plus at lower rate than poorest 50% of americans. >> and wants to get rid of the alternative minimum. >> and if we got rid of it, that's what he would have gotten. but he's been involved in regulatory matters where he had to turn them over and somebody decided i would make good use of this. >> mailed to your home anonymously. do you think he could have mailed them to you? >> absolutely. donald may have been the source of the pages that came out last fall. may have been the source of the sleazily pictures of h

improper about journalists, if you haven't solicited something getting it over the transom.ld sent these to me. he has leaked over the years all sorts of things. >> it was that reporter's instinct that it's possible the president actually fed those to him. when you kind of look at how the sto story tells itself it tends to back that up. the president said an effective income tax rate of about 25% because of the alternative minimum tax. mitt romney, by comparison, paid 14% and took heavy fire about that during the 2012 campaign. as maddow prepared to go on the air last night, the white house acknowledged the document's veracity and put out a long statement saying this. that being said, mr. trump paid $38 million even after taking into account large scale of depreciation for construction of an income more than $150 million as well as paying tens of millions of dollars in other taxes, such as sales and excise taxes and employment taxes, and this illegally published return proves just that. despite the substantial income figure and tax paid, it is totally illegal to steal and pu

. >> under the transom. >> but that's how the "new york times" got the tax returns -- >> 1997, i believe? >> which showed how he could take large deductions for decades to come. so we don't really know the answer to that. what we know about this is that he paid millions in taxes and we don't know anything else. which, by the way, we all presumed he probably paid millions in taxes maybe. you know, so i think it's a litt littlewhether planned or unplanned. we don't know where the leak of. >> by the way, johnson, who is going to be on this show in a little bit. >> donald trump and his administration is under an incredible a united states senator whether or not the fbi is actually investigating any alleged ties between donald trump and russia. that's supposed to happen tomorrow. in addition to that, you have a health care bill that is on life support. you know, at best at this point. >> no pun inhello. solicited -- sends me an e-mail that said trump it leaked. released his taxes and he pays a lot describes this as a brilliant tactics. i've seen it oaf the decades. >> prm donald trump is play

guy who has never dealt with congress before, has never had a lift of this weight to take across a transome to get the 216 votes that he needs to advance this legislation over to the senate. whether they support the acha or not is going to be very essential, as has been discussed. in fact, it was believed, at least president trump saying he may have the support from -- for the bill from this group, but they tweeted here they are not in favor of the bill according to what we're hearing. michigan's justin amass saying what he said was not true. conservatives are not flipping. freedom caucus. very essential. what are you watching there? >> freedom caucus was basically formed in response to the american -- what did it used to be called? the aca, not the acha. >> obama care. >> it was a tea party reaction to what they considered to be this endless extra spending that the government was engaged in and that the affordable care act was the worst example of that. the idea that president trump can count on any of them really to come aboard given that it is -- it continues with subsies d continues wit

nunes had a whistle-blower, like an edward snowden who somehow gave him this information over the transom. he went to the white house, a secure room in the white house where only white house officials have access first of all. so nbc news has not confirmed these two particular gentlemen were the people who gave him the stuff -- the. >> new york times has. that's a start. >> we've been hearing these names as likely suspects for days, chris, and they are among the few people who have access to this very sensitive information. don't forget. this is about the names of americans, so it's not everybody over at the nsc who can look this stuff up on the computer. >> isn't it transparentally a masquerade to have a congressman legally investigating the president of the united states on whether his connections with russia during the campaign heading to the white house, apparently at the bidding of the people down there, grabbing some material he said was important to help the president out politically, which he said at the time, and then going to the white house the next morning as if he hadn't been

david cay johnston the returns simplypl arrived in the mail.arri >>ve came in the mail over theer transom absolutely y nothing improper aboutinimproper journalists if you haven'taven't solicited something getting it over -- - >> reporter: white house house released the same informationma and suggestingti that last nighs reporting was illegal. >> you know you are desperate de for rating when you're willing to violate the law w theo push a story about two pages of tax returns from over a decade ago. >> trump's refusal to release returns became an on-goingg campaign esche with rival hillary clinton at one pointcl suggesting he may not havein pad any taxes.anxes in reality, the president'sde's effective tax rate was only ay bit below what earners were paying that year.ea >> donald trump paid what washaw the equivalent i guess of about 25% in federal taxes, federal fr income taxes. tax i think he needs a better taxax attorney.attorn i mean why -- is that -- i meann if i were trump i wouldn't beldb worried about this at all.t all >> reporter: still democratsem will keep up the hee on theeen h p