--- description: While reporting on a release of a tax return from President Donald Trump, Rachel Maddow compared the situation to this Richard Nixon scandal title: 'I Am Not a Crook.' The Nixon Tax Story Rachel Maddow Compared to Trump image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcaca401ddb823c33/6988be64cf40a85f95c46d62/1101740415_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [politics](/tag/politics/) ## politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 'I Am Not a Crook.' The Nixon Tax Story Rachel Maddow Just Compared to Trump's  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Mar 15, 2017 1:49 AM CUT  The April 14, 1974, cover of TIME The April 14, 1974, cover of TIMECover Credit: DIRCK HALSTEAD  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Mar 15, 2017 1:49 AM CUT In the introduction to a headline-making episode Tuesday of her MSNBC show in which she [revealed the contents of one of Donald Trump’s old tax returns](http://time.com/4701747/donald-trump-rachel-maddow-taxes/?xid=homepage "undefined"), Rachel Maddow had cause to remind audiences of a particular [presidential one-liner ](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1859513%5F1859526,00.html "undefined")from [American history](http://time.com/4326267/donald-trump-presidential-tax-returns-list/ "undefined"): the moment in November of 1973 when President Richard Nixon told the American people, “I am not a crook.” Though Nixon was already embroiled in the Watergate scandal that would lead to his downfall and the line was widely interpreted as a reflection of that situation — the break-in that started everything took place in 1972, and Nixon had been questioned about that too — the line came in response to something else. At an editors’ conference, a journalist named [Joseph Ungaro](http://time.com/vault/issue/2006-11-27/page/29/ "undefined") asked whether the President’s taxes had been accurately reported. “The people have to know whether or not their President is a crook,” Nixon [responded](http://time.com/vault/issue/1973-11-26/page/17/ "undefined"). “Well, I am not a crook. I have earned everything I’ve got.” The question of Nixon’s taxes was the subject of a TIME cover story early the following year — a cover that Maddow displayed to viewers on Tuesday night. As Maddow noted to viewers, the questioning of Nixon’s tax situation was fruitful for investigators, a situation that TIME explained: --- > “” --- Nixon, as the story noted, enjoyed the “dubious distinction” of being the first sitting President ever to be audited by the Congressional Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation. The investigation generally concluded that, though Nixon had not properly paid his taxes, his owing money did not mean he had purposefully committed fraud. Nevertheless, amid the larger atmosphere of scandal, Nixon’s assertion that he was not a crook would go down as a one of the most infamous statements of presidential history. As TIME put it in that cover story, “the White House doubtless wishes that somehow the books could be snapped shut as decisively and relatively cleanly on Watergate as they were last week on the President’s tax problems. Of course, they cannot be.” **_Read the full story here in the TIME Vault:_** [Nixon’s Tax Scandal](http://time.com/vault/issue/1974-04-15/page/1/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4701756/trump-tax-returns-rachel-maddow-richard-nixon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4701756/trump-tax-returns-rachel-maddow-richard-nixon/"},"headline":"'I Am Not a Crook.' The Nixon Tax Story Rachel Maddow Just Compared to Trump's","datePublished":"2017-03-15T01:49:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:50:41.010Z","description":"Rachel Maddow compared the situation to this Richard Nixon scandal","url":"https://time.com/4701756/trump-tax-returns-rachel-maddow-richard-nixon/","keywords":["politics","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcaca401ddb823c33/6988be64cf40a85f95c46d62/1101740415_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcaca401ddb823c33/6988be64cf40a85f95c46d62/1101740415_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"April 14, 1974","caption":"April 14, 1974","creditText":"Cover Credit: DIRCK HALSTEAD","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4701756/trump-tax-returns-rachel-maddow-richard-nixon/","name":"'I Am Not a Crook.' The Nixon Tax Story Rachel Maddow Just Compared to Trump's"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch: The Rise and Fall of Richard Nixon in TIME Covers","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/3GFNMs2U/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-06T14:47:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3GFNMs2U.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4701756/trump-tax-returns-rachel-maddow-richard-nixon/","duration":"PT2M58S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4701756/trump-tax-returns-rachel-maddow-richard-nixon/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```