the story. It probably helped DT. The analysis was good though.
However, I bet my last dollar, there was a plan by DTs staff to leak it. Good strategy. It is the only thing that makes sense. Also, they announced a carefully prepared statement before she even aired the story.

He is getting really close to Congress or others going after the taxes. Get a story about how much he paid first, and "let it breathe." Obviously, he is hiding his Russia and China connections. In the campaign, his sons said that they had a lot of loans from Russia (shut down quickly...geez, they are idiots).
So, he picks out one of the best years, maybe the best, as far as his paying taxes (even if it was mostly AMT). He thinks maybe if he shows this incomplete tax return, the trumpsters will be outraged that he's being harrassed, paying a bundle in taxes (by their standards), and it was leaked (the usual bury the truth or real story by making the leak or sourse the story).
It is clearly an attempt to put the tax returns issue to rest, as well as get his base riled up to defend him, if he needs it.
Poor Donnie, so mistreated by "illegal" leaks (fuck the leaked stories), and he paid so much in taxes.

Why his returns haven't come out anyway is beyond me, as much litigation as he has had. Tax returns are requested in almost all discovery. His lawyer couldn't release them, but many others could. Settlements often have gag orders, but he litigated a lot of cases. For some suits, they may even be part of a public record, though discovery docs per se are not usually filed because of the massive amount of paper. Loans and license applications require tax returns.

Betcha anything, he's exaggerating his income for loans, and reducing it for taxes. Fraud.