Trump Says Reporter Who Obtained His Tax Returns Is ‘A Weird Dude’

President Donald Trump speaks at the American Center of Mobility, Wednesday, March 15, 2017, in Ypsilanti Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that the reporter who obtained and aired part of his 2005 tax returns is “a weird dude” who “hasn’t done so well.”

“I know the reporter is a weird dude who’s been following me for 25 years so obviously he hasn’t done so well,” Trump said, according to a report by ABC affiliate WHAM. “He’s been following me in a negative fashion for 25 years, always a hit. And I’m President, so he hasn’t done a very good job.”

Trump said that tax returns are “supposed to be almost sacred” and called the leak “a terrible thing.”

“I paid a lot of tax and I employed a lot of people and I made money – made good money,” Trump said. “But they shouldn’t be leaking tax returns, that’s for sure. Whether they’re good or bad – they shouldn’t be leaking them.”

According to a report by the New York Times, Johnston — who revealed the returns on Rachel Maddow’s Tuesday night show on MSNBC — first met Trump in June 1988.

In a series of tweets on Wednesday morning responding to the leak, Trump called Johnston a reporter “who nobody ever heard of” and said Johnston’s account of finding the documents in his mailbox was “FAKE NEWS.”

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