JAKE TAPPER (HOST): In this new poll that shows Trump and Clinton statistically in a dead heat there are a few areas of concern for him but one in particular I want to ask you aboutis tax returns. Now, Mr. Trump,if he wanted to, he could release his returns today. Being under audit hasn't stopped him before when it comes to his business dealings. And, of course, he could always release previous year's return. In the poll, it says, 64 percent of the American public says Mr. Trump should release his tax returns. How much longer are we going to have to wait before he is transparent with the American people about his possible conflicts of interests, his tax rate, and how much he gives to charity?
ED BROOKOVER: I think Mr. Trump has spoken quite extensively on this topic. He's talked about how he's being audited, how he'll release taxes once his audit is complete, he's also talked about how this tax system is unfair, it's too rule-y, there are too many regulations in this tax system, and that, yes, he does try to pay as few taxes as possible because the government wastes so much money. I think that Mr. Trump -- I think the poll results show that while some people may want to see the returns, they're not voting on that right now. They're voting on whether Mr. Trump can restore America's greatness again.
TAPPER: Mr. Trump has said that 2015 returns are under audit, that's fine, and that the year or two before that are also all intermingled. Why not release the 2012 returns? Why not release the 2011 returns at least as a good faith effort to the American people who have a right to see them?
BROOKOVER: I think that if we release just partial releases, that we'll still be under the same kind of scrutiny, and so I think Mr. Trump's going to wait until we can release them all at once.
TAPPER: You have any idea of when that might be?
BROOKOVER: I don't yet, I don't know when the IRS' audit process will end.
TAPPER: Well, why does he have to wait for the audit to be over? For a previous business deal, he released his tax returns while they were still under audit. Why is this less worthy of transparency?
BROOKOVER: I don't know what the audit is covering, and none of us do right now, and so my assumption is that there is something may change inside this tax return, through the audit process, and so let's release one that's been correctly audited.
