WASHINGTON – South Florida Republican politicians spoke to Local 10 News Wednesday after President Donald Trump's tax return was leaked to the media.
The documents, which were apparently mailed to a journalist, showed the tax bracket he paid in 2005.
Trump, who previously told reporters that he didn't believe American voters had a right to see his tax returns, questioned the credibility of the documents.
The president's 2005 tax return showed an income of nearly $153 million, with the president paying $38 million in taxes.
The documents showed that Trump paid an effective tax rate of 25 percent.
"If the alternative minimum tax gets abolished, he would pay less, and, of course, he's for abolishing that. What are your thoughts on that?" Local 10 News reporter Ross Palombo asked.
"So am I. I don't pay that," U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio said. "So look, I don't know. I haven't seen the returns. You have to ask an accountant."
Independent journalist David Cay Johnston said he got the two-page tax summary in the mail anonymously.
Johnston told MSNBC that the accounting and the return both point to Trump's political motivations.
"If that tax hadn't existed, Trump would've paid a tax rate on his $153 million lower than the average paid by the poorest of Americans," Johnston said.
Trump blasted the journalist Wednesday morning on Twitter, posting: "Does anybody really believe that a reporter, who nobody ever heard of, 'went to his mailbox' and found my tax returns? FAKE NEWS!"
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who believes that Americans deserve to see the president's tax returns, also questioned how the document was released.
"(It) might have actually been released through Trump surrogates, because it's a way of him proving to the people that he pays taxes," she said.
On Wednesday, the House Intelligence Committee refuted another Trump claim that former President Barack Obama had him wire tapped.
"Do you have any faith in what comes out of the president's mouth at this point?" Palombo asked Rubio.
"I don't agree with everything the president says or does. I agreed even less with the previous president," Rubio said. "In the end, the president made a claim -- a serious claim. It'll either be true or won't be true. We're going to find out, and at that point, the American people will be able to judge it and will opine on it."