ABC's Ross falsely claimed that McCain has already released his tax returns
Summary: Noting the National Archives' release of Sen. Hillary Clinton's daily schedule during her time as first lady, ABC's Brian Ross stated, "Senator Clinton, unlike Senators [Barack] Obama and [John] McCain, has still not released any of her tax returns." In fact, McCain reportedly has not released any of his tax returns.
On the March 19 edition of ABC's World News with Charles Gibson, ABC News chief investigative reporter Brian Ross, noting the National Archives' release of Sen. Hillary Clinton's daily schedule during her time as first lady, stated, "The Clinton campaign says today's document release shows great transparency and openness. But more than a year into the campaign, Senator Clinton, unlike Senators [Barack] Obama and [John] McCain, has still not released any of her tax returns." In fact, McCain reportedly has not released any of his tax returns. As a March 18 McClatchy Newspapers article reported, Clinton "isn't the only presidential candidate who hasn't made tax records public. Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, hasn't either. His campaign says that he'll make his records public in the next month or so." The same article also reported that "McCain has never made his tax returns public, but Clinton has." Similarly, on March 11, the Associated Press reported that McCain "pledged to release" recent medical "test results before the end of April, the same timeframe for releasing his income tax returns." More recently, in a March 17 blog post on TheAtlantic.com, Marc Ambinder reported, "He [McCain] will make them available to reporters after he files on April 15, according to his campaign."
Media Matters for America has documented numerous examples of media outlets noting that Clinton has not released her tax returns without mentioning that McCain also has not done so.
From the March 19 edition of ABC's World News with Charles Gibson:
ROSS: The Clinton campaign says today's document release shows great transparency and openness. But more than a year into the campaign, Senator Clinton, unlike Senators Obama and McCain, has still not released any of her tax returns. The campaign says those are coming too by April 15th. But there's been no explanation, Charlie, about why the delay for those.
CHARLES GIBSON (anchor): Brian Ross reporting tonight, thanks.
—J.M.
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