Rachel Maddow Committed A Felony On Live TV : 26 U.S. Code § 7213 - Update: The WH Warned Her

Cornell ^ | 03/15/17

[Enlightened1]

26 U.S. Code § 7213 - Unauthorized disclosure of information

 

(a) Returns and return information

 

(3) Other persons

 

It shall be unlawful for any person to whom any return or return information (as defined in section 6103(b)) is disclosed in a manner unauthorized by this title thereafter willfully to print or publish in any manner not provided by law any such return or return information. Any violation of this paragraph shall be a felony punishable by a fine in any amount not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.

 

[link to https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/7213] 

 

EDIT.

 

And just to be clear, it's irrelevant that she's media. The NYT refrained from publishing Trump's tax return in October last year because it would be a felony.

 

[http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/trump-claims-the-new-york-times-illegally-published-his-taxes-we-investigate-if-thats-true/]

 

EDIT 2.

 

The White House warned Maddow not to release the documents, as doing so is illegal!

 

[link to http://kutv.com/news/nation-world/maddow-says-she-has-obtained-trumps-tax-returns-seriously] 

 

EDIT 3. This AC challenges the claim that this was a felony.  Let's be clear - Maddow committed a felony by releasing the tax return.

[xzins]

Any comments on this article?

[SSS Two]

There seems to be a thread a day (if not more) on FR that advocate more restrictions on Free Speech.

I would have liked to see FR look for ways to expand Free Speech rights rather than restrict them. These are the Crazy Years.

[DeWalt]

Add a conspiracy to commit a felony charge also. Two or more persons conspired.

[Mr. Douglas]

I thought that, technically, he released them before she did. If true, she simply exposed public records.

[VaeVictis]

Yes it would, ratings would skyrocket for that brief time too.

[FamiliarFace]

That’s pretty funny that anyone thinks SF is a great place. My son lives there and I think it’s awful. It has the foulest odors there I have ever smelled, and that includes NYC. Traffic is ridiculous, too. Dems can keep their big cities with all their corruption. I want no part of them. I’ll take the little towns and rural places any day.

[Enlightened1]

Oh I see you are taking the MSDNC defense.....

It’s called THE LAW....

You cannot publicly expose someone’s tax records without their consent. It is illegal and a felony.

That has NOTHING to do with free speech.

[Enlightened1]

No President Trump did not release them.

[HarleyLady27]

The thing that bothers me about all of this is NOT the stupid clown on the T.V., but why did the IRS give them out?

Does that mean if I hate you and I get your SS number I can call the IRS and they will mail me YOUR Income Tax Returns???

Stop and think about this...WHO in the IRS did this? There are a ton of papers that need to be filled out, you have to show I.D. how do I know this, with the death of my late husband and my son when he died, you have to jump through hoops to even talk to these people...

And I’m seeing that someone in the IRS just mailed them out, I wonder how much they were paid by the Clinton Foundation to do this...

[Daffynition]

Since her/his fake story broke, I've been saying this. Possession of stolen goods is a Felony. BOOM!

M

[Daffynition]

[Alberta's Child]

Here's my take on this whole thing ...

1. Maddow and MSNBC will not face any prosecution.

2. They won't face prosecution because they didn't commit a crime.

3. They didn't commit a crime under the statute you cited because they obtained the tax return from someone who was authorized to have it.

[SkyDancer]

Don’t people know that the MSMLSD bunch are above the law?

[Alberta's Child]

Let's think before we post, people.

If someone in the IRS or another government office really wanted to embarrass Trump, do you really think they would just release two pages from a single tax return that dates back 12 freaking years?

Please.

[Daffynition]

[Enlightened1]

Oh so are you saying MAD COW I mean Rachel Maddow, who bragged she was going to expose the President Trump’s tax return on Twitter, is really secretly for President Trump?

Yeah okay...

[Alberta's Child]

LMAO.

[Alberta's Child]

Did I say that?

My point was that if they were willing to break the law, then surely they would have released something much more damaging, embarrassing, etc.

They weren't willing to break the law, so they released something absolutely innocuous that came from a legitimate source.

[Daffynition]

:)

[Enlightened1]

You can’t show it to the public without the consent of the person in the document.

As you can see in the third link above she was warned her not to it.

Yes Liberalism is a mental disorder.