From the transcript
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57496067/face-the-nation-transcripts-august-19-2012-giuliani-durbin-norquist-tanden/?pageNum=2&tag=contentMain;contentBody
SENATOR DICK DURBIN: ....
Instead, what he has given is-- is tantalize people. We now know he's the first presidential candidate in history to run for office with a Swiss bank account. We also know that he has disclosed these tax shelters and tax havens in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. And we just have tantalizing little tidbits--
BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): But--
SENATOR DICK DURBIN: --that have forced him to go back and amend his financial disclosure returns. Let him make a full disclosure as every major presidential candidate has for the last thirty-six years.
A little background:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014197567#post13
Lawrence O'Donnell said last night that the Obama campaign is wondering about why Romney's partial (he failed to provide tax forms for the overseas bank accounts) tax return for 2010 show a $100 mil trust fund in 9 overseas holdings and 12 partnerships including the Swiss bank account that is not revealed on any of Romney's financial disclosures for Governor (2000-2006 or so) nor his two financial disclosures as a candidate for President (2007, 2011).
There was already a problem explaining how Romney accrued 10,000 years worth of the max IRA contribution in that $100 mil trust fund.
Now, there's a second problem for Romney to explain why it was never disclosed previously.
So what Durbin adds is confirmation about what O'Donnell raised from the Obama campaign. And the new information from Durbin that Romney revised his financial disclosures for office to add the offshore tax shelters that he had previously failed to reveal.
This aligns (as evidence - not proof) with Reid's claim about Romney not paying taxes. Paying no taxes would hold until Romney revised his returns to add the offshore tax shelters (and therefore, Romney can counter claim he paid taxes every year - just not as originally disclosed if Reid is right). So the possibility is higher than ever that Romney's returns got revised with amnesty. It's still not proof because the "oversight" could have occurred on the financial disclosures. The problem with that is there were several financial disclosures so we're being asked to accept the mistake got made year after year .... as a $100 mil IRA would take years to build up.
So it's not a checkmate but Durbin's quote moved and confirmed my understanding of this and because of it, I lean further towards amnesty being involved - which means we'll never see the tax returns if he got amnesty. It's just a question of how far the Obama campaign can push this and inflict damage on Romney. And it may be a real long shot to get him to withdraw - in part because the Obama campaign is probably pretty happy with who they're running against and he's under no obligation to reveal the returns.
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