Mitt Romney’s waffling over whether he should release his tax returns is hurting him and making him look indecisive, Donald Trump tells Newsmax.TV exclusively.
“He is just leaving too much doubt in the way he is answering the question,” Trump said.
Romney has been hurt all week in the Republican presidential race because he has been unclear about what he will do in response to demands that he release his returns.
At Monday’s candidates’ debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., he said he would release them around April, after he was pressured by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has since dropped out of the race.
He compounded the confusion the following day when he said that he pays around 15 percent tax as most of his income comes from investments. He was hammered again at Thursday’s debate when he said he would release several years of returns at the same time, but not until his 2011 returns are completed.
He was shown up by his closest rival, Newt Gingrich, who released his returns – showing he paid at a rate of around 31 percent – midway through the debate.
Trump said it wasn’t the fact that he had not released the returns, just the manner in which he has failed to address the issue properly. “There is so much hemming and hawing,” he said. “I’m sure that he is not hiding anything, but the indecisiveness is causing doubt in the voters’ minds and that is not good.
“Give them, don’t give them, but you can’t go sort of in the middle.”
Trump said people are asking why Romney is being so indecisive on this matter and compared him with candidate Ron Paul, who said during the debate that he had no intention of releasing his returns. “That was very interesting the way he said it. Nobody went crazy over it.
“But Mitt is in this never-never land – in tennis they call it the never-never when you’re off the baseline a little bit – and it is putting him in a very bad position. I’m sure he has got nothing to hide, but he has got to make sure of the fact that those returns get out.”
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