Gov. Rick Scott, R-Fla., one of Donald Trump’s most vocal supporters, failed to defend the Republican nominee’s refusal to release his tax returns to the public.
In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, Scott was asked why he chose to release his tax returns when he ran for governor.
“I figured my view is: give everybody all the information and let them make good decisions. As you know, every candidate does things differently. Not everybody releases their tax returns.”
Scott is heading up a pro-Trump super PAC, which just released an ad hitting Hillary Clinton on her wealth. The ad specifically targets comments she made that she and former President Bill Clinton were “dead broke” when they left the White House in 2001, while they are now “worth over $100 million,” according to Scott.
“There’s something that doesn’t pass the smell test,” he added.
While Scott’s super PAC goes after Clinton on issues of transparency, there is a question of whether Trump cedes the high ground here by not releasing his own tax returns.
“Every candidate’s going to do something different,” Scott repeated.
When pushed further Scott explained, “I released my tax returns, I released basically the list of assets that I had. I want to make sure no one knows I have a conflict. I don’t take income, I don’t take a salary. I paid my own way to fly around the state. That’s what I do.”
Pivoting back to his support for the Republican nominee, the Florida governor pointed to Trump’s plans for creating jobs and defeating ISIS.
Pressed once again on if he would be releasing more information if he were the one running for president, Scott said, “My track record is, I’ve always been as transparent as I can. Everybody knows that I’m not making any money in this job.”
He added, for a fourth time, “But every candidate’s different.”
