Democrats push anti-Russian campaign at “tax day” protests
By
our reporters
17 April 2017
Protests organized by the Democratic Party drew relatively small numbers in Washington, DC, New York City and more than 100 other locations throughout the United States on Saturday. The main demonstration at the US Capitol drew about 10,000 people, with several thousand turning out in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and New York, and lesser crowds in other locations.
The protests were set for April 15, the day when income tax returns must usually be filed in the US, to highlight the demand that President Trump release his income tax returns, as all previous presidential candidates have done for the past half-century. Trump has refused to do so, giving the spurious pretext that his taxes are under audit by the Internal Revenue Service.
Democratic Party representatives sought to link the tax return issue not to Trump’s status as a billionaire who has taken advantage of various real estate tax dodges to pay little or nothing, but to their bogus allegations that Trump is a Russian stooge.
The suggestion is that Trump is hiding substantial income from Russian investments or debts to Russian investors that would become public knowledge if he released his tax returns. A partial return for 2005, recently leaked to Rachel Maddow of MSNBC, showed no such Russian connection, and Trump’s financial statements filed with the Federal Election Commission have shown no Russian assets or property holdings.
Despite the small size of the rallies, the cable news networks gave them extensive coverage on Saturday, avoiding any mention of the number of participants.
While the demonstrations attracted anti-Trump protesters motivated by other issues, particularly opposition to war and Trump’s…