I’m still rubbing my eyes. I saw a breaking news tweet. I was sure it was wrong. A joke. A hoax. A hack. Something really from the Onion.
But no, apparently it’s for real.
Larry Flynt, the controversial publisher of the sexually explicit magazine Hustler, is “offering up to a million dollars in cash for documented evidence concerning Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s unreleased tax returns and/or details of his offshore assets, bank accounts and business partnerships.”
The offer will be made official via a number of full-page ads in this week’s USA Today and Washington Post. You can see one of them on this page via the Hollywood Reporter (safe for work). If you’re looking for more info about the claim on Flynt’s Hustler magazine site, you won’t find it (definitely NOT safe for work).
Flynt is known for these kinds of publicity stunts when it comes to politics. But at least he’s being transparent.
I guess folks really, really want to know what’s in those returns. There’s only one way to find out but Romney isn’t budging.
(Updated: @JohnWilson on Twitter questioned whether if Flynt received the returns – and they were stolen – that might be a crime. The receipt of stolen property is, in fact, a federal crime under 18 USC §2315 assuming that the property is considered interstate commerce, has a value of $5,000 or more and the recipient knows it to be stolen. The punishment could be a fine and/or prison.)
