--- title: Donald Trump and Mitt Romney Had A Twitter Spat Over Taxes description: Donald Trump and Mitt Romney engaged in a snarky Twitter spat Thursday after Romney accused Trump of hiding something in his tax returns. canonical: https://time.com/4237647/donald-trump-mitt-romney-twitter-taxes/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-25T18:31:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:28.691Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump and Romney Got in a Twitter Spat Over Taxes og:description: Romney accused Trump of hiding something in his tax returns. og:url: https://time.com/4237647/donald-trump-mitt-romney-twitter-taxes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75eba719de8fb175/69887f260a4a22ae8f9c88ae/mitt-romney-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: mitt-romney-donald-trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump and Romney Got in a Twitter Spat Over Taxes twitter:description: Romney accused Trump of hiding something in his tax returns. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75eba719de8fb175/69887f260a4a22ae8f9c88ae/mitt-romney-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump and Mitt Romney Got in a Twitter Spat Over Taxes > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 25, 2016 6:31 PM UTC  Left Mitt Romney speaks during the Republican National Committee's winter meeting aboard the USS Midway Museum in San Diego, Calif. on Jan. 16, 2015\. Right Donald Trump waves as he arrives at a caucus night watch party at the Treasure Island Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on Feb. 23, 2016. Left Mitt Romney speaks during the Republican National Committee's winter meeting aboard the USS Midway Museum in San Diego, Calif. on Jan. 16, 2015\. Right Donald Trump waves as he arrives at a caucus night watch party at the Treasure Island Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on Feb. 23, 2016. Gregory Bull—AP; Ethan Miller—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 25, 2016 6:31 PM UTC Donald Trump and Mitt Romney engaged in a snarky Twitter spat Thursday after Romney accused Trump of hiding something in his tax returns. The fight began Wednesday night, when 2012 Republican nominee [Romney said](http://time.com/4236690/donald-trump-mitt-romney-tax-fight/) of the current GOP frontrunners, “We really ought to see from all three of these fellas what their taxes look like to see if there’s an issue there. I think in Donald Trump’s case, it’s likely to be a bombshell.” (Romney, a co-founder of private equity company Bain Capital, came under pressure himself during the 2012 race to disclose his tax returns.) The fight escalated Thursday, when businessman Trump fired off a series of tweets bashing Romney: > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/702833969537142788) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/702887030892658688) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/702897056181055493) Trump also took a moment out of attacking Romney to make a pitch for simplifying the tax code, something he’s talked about on the stump: > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/702894623761498112) But Romney wasn’t cowed by the tweet-storm, and hit back at Trump in kind: > [](https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/702914516338798592) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4237647/donald-trump-mitt-romney-twitter-taxes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4237647/donald-trump-mitt-romney-twitter-taxes/"},"headline":"Donald Trump and Mitt Romney Got in a Twitter Spat Over Taxes","datePublished":"2016-02-25T18:31:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:28.691Z","description":"Donald Trump and Mitt Romney engaged in a snarky Twitter spat Thursday after Romney accused Trump of hiding something in his tax returns.","url":"https://time.com/4237647/donald-trump-mitt-romney-twitter-taxes/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election","mitt romney"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75eba719de8fb175/69887f260a4a22ae8f9c88ae/mitt-romney-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75eba719de8fb175/69887f260a4a22ae8f9c88ae/mitt-romney-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"mitt-romney-donald-trump","caption":"Left Mitt Romney speaks during the Republican National Committee's winter meeting aboard the USS Midway Museum in San Diego, Calif. on Jan. 16, 2015. 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