On Tuesday night, Rachel Maddow of MSNBC obtained two pages of Donald Trump's 2005 tax returns and revealed the information during the broadcast of "The Rachel Maddow Show." Moments before the program aired, the White House sent out a statement on the issue, which many are starting to believe was set up by the administration.

Trump's taxes

For the better part of the last year and a half, President Donald Trump has faced mounting pressure to release his tax returns. As the first billionare to run for president, the media and others pressed the former host of "The Apprentice" to make his financial history known to the public to avoid a potential conflict of interest between himself and the presidency.

Trump continued to deflect from the issue, claiming that a tax audit by the IRS was preventing him from releasing his returns. Despite the backlash, Trump was able to avoid the tax return release and became the first president in 40 years to win the election while keeping his finical information from voters. After Rachel Maddow's aforementioned report, another MSNBC host decided to chime in on March 15.

"This one tax return is not bad for him because he cherry picked one return from over a decade ago and had it leaked to the press," MSNBC host Joe Scarborough wrote on Twitter.

In a follow-up tweet, Scarborough then accused the White House of leaking the tax return to avoid the growing scandal involving Russia, and the current health care debate. "The Trump camp released one positive tax return to distract from Russia hearings and the Trumpcare meltdown," he tweeted, before adding ,"That's painfully obvious."

Not stopping there, Joe Scarborough went on to tweet a recommendation that Congress require anyone running for president must release their tax returns to the public.

"Congress must pass a bill requiring that every candidate running for president starting in 2020 release their last 3 years of taxes," Scarborough suggested on social media.

MSNBC vs CNN

In response to Joe Scarborough's tweet, CNN host Chris Cuomo fired back with speculation about the MSNBC host's allegation.

"MSNBC have proof potus leaked it? None offered," Cuomo tweeted, while adding, "But even as opinion from a pol, shows strained potus relationship even with friends?"

Within minutes, Joe Scarborough decided to hit back at Chris Cuomo with a three part tweet. "1. Learn to write intelligibly," Scarborough tweeted.

"2. Try to keep up," he wrote while mocking his CNN counterpart, stating, "The reporter who was mailed the returns said Trump may have sent it." In conclusion, the "Morning Joe" co-host wrote, "3. This ain't hard."
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED