TRUMP calls TV showing of tax return ‘fake news.’

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday denounced as “fake news” the release by journalists of a part of his 2005 income tax form, hours after the White House issued a statement confirming the numbers on the documents.

Two pages from the president’s 2005 tax returns were disclosed Tuesday evening by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow after being mailed to David Cay Johnston, a former New York Times reporter. They show Trump paid $38 million in federal income taxes on reported income of $150 million, an effective tax rate of 25 percent.

The White House confirmed those numbers before the show and appeared to accept the document’s authenticity by criticizing a story “about two pages of tax returns from over a decade ago” and stating that it is “totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns.”

But in a Twitter message posted just before 7 a.m., the president appeared to backtrack from that acknowledgment.

“Does anybody really believe that a reporter, who nobody ever heard of, ‘went to his mailbox’ and found my tax returns? @NBCNews FAKE NEWS!”

White House spokesman Sean Spicer denied that the president leaked the document.

NBC “sat there and speculated openly and asked guests and pushed a narrative about whether the president was behind this,” Spicer told reporters on Air Force One. “It’s despicable and reprehensible, and they should be ashamed of themselves.”

Asked if the president authorized a leak of the document, Spicer said, “No.”

“And I think it’s offensive to ask that question,” he added.

The White House insisted that NBC acted illegally in publishing the documents, but Spicer would not say whether either the White House or Trump’s personal attorneys would pursue legal action.

During an appearance on Maddow’s show Tuesday night, Johnston speculated that Trump might have leaked the pages of his own tax returns.

“It’s entirely possible that Donald sent this to me,” Johnston said although he added that he did not know whether that was the case. “It’s a possibility, and it could have been leaked by someone at his direction.”

Maddow trumpeted the returns as breaking news on Twitter an hour before her evening show began, raising expectations that her report would reveal striking financial news about the president.

Instead, the two pages largely confirmed that Trump made a significant amount of money in 2005 and paid millions in taxes after writing off about $100 million in business losses that reduced the overall tax payment.

One of Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr., made that point in a Twitter message shortly after the show ended, thanking Maddow for releasing the information.

“Thank you Rachel Maddow for proving to your #Trump hating followers how successful @realDonaldTrump is & that he paid $40mm in taxes! #Taxes,” it read.

Trump has refused to release his tax returns in full, breaking a long tradition of presidential candidates doing so. He has said he will release the returns when they are no longer under audit by the IRS.