Amid his controversial comments about abortion, Donald Trump is trying to change the conversation.
On Wednesday evening Trump’s campaign quietly published a letter from Trump’s tax counsel regarding the state of his tax returns, a subject he previously bristled at when asked about by reporters.
The letter bolsters claims made by Trump that he is continuously audited by the IRS due to the complexity and breadth of his returns.
“Your personal tax returns have been under continuous examination by the Internal Revenue Service since 2002, consistent with the IRS’ practice for large and complex businesses,” the letter reads.
It also states that Trump’s returns from 2009 forward are still under audit, but that audits on returns from 2002 to 2008 have been “closed administratively.”
The letter is dated March 7, 2016 raising the question of why the campaign only decided to release it Wednesday — 23 days later.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to request for comment when asked if returns from 2002 to 2008 would be forthcoming. The New York real estate mogul told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Wednesday afternoon that he believed in punishing women for having abortions should the procedure be banned again. After swift backlash from rivals and reproductive rights organizations, Trump did a rare and abrupt about face, putting out a statement saying he would punish the doctors, not the women, for doing the abortion. This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com.Recommended
Ali Vitali is MS NOW's senior congressional correspondent and the host of "Way Too Early." She is the author of "Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House … Yet."