On Wednesday, lawyers for former President Donald Trump asked a federal judge to block a Justice Department order that the IRS turn over years of his income tax returns to Congress.
The filing said in NBC News report:
“While House Democrats had offered countless justifications for obtaining the president’s tax returns, no one at the time had ever mentioned a desire to find out how the IRS audits presidents, The chairman’s request bore little resemblance to an effort to investigate how the IRS audits presidents.”
“It asked for the information of only one president, asked for open files for which audits have not been completed, and never asked the IRS for the most relevant information — namely, how it audits presidents.” per CNBC.
From The Wall Street Journal, Ronald Fischetti, a lawyer for Trump said, “There is no evidence of any wrongdoing here and I object to the release of the returns not only on behalf of my client but on behalf of all future holders of the office of the president of the United States.”
On Friday, the Treasury Department must turn over Trump’s tax returns according to the Justice Department.
The opinion said per The New York Times, “The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee has invoked sufficient reasons for requesting the former president’s tax information.”
It added, “Treasury must furnish the information to the committee.”
In an excerpt by The Hill, Justice Department acting Assistant Attorney General Dawn Johnsen wrote, “The statute at issue here is unambiguous: ‘Upon written request’ of the chairman of one of the three congressional tax committees, the Secretary ‘shall furnish’ the requested tax information to the Committee.”
“Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Neal first requested six years’ worth of Trump’s tax returns in April of 2019, in addition to tax returns for eight of Trump’s businesses, under a 97-year-old law that requires the Treasury secretary to ‘furnish’ the returns of any taxpayer to the chairman of the tax-writing panel by request,” The ABC News reported.
“Access to former President Trump’s tax returns is a matter of national security. The American people deserve to know the facts of his conflicts of interest and undermining of our security and democracy as president,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted, as her support of the ruling.
Pelosi added, “The House will always fight to expose the truth.”
The Biden Admin has delivered a victory for the rule of law as it respects the public interest by complying w/ Chairman Neal’s request for Donald Trump’s tax returns. I applaud Chairman Neal for his dignified pursuit of the truth & the Biden Admin DOJ for its respect for the law.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) July 30, 2021
Following a Supreme Court ruling in July, House Democrats resurrected their quest to get Trump’s personal financial information.
According to Politico:
In a 7-to-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the lower courts had failed to take “a balanced approach” to the congressional subpoenas.
In the majority opinion Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “In assessing whether a subpoena directed at the President’s personal information is ‘related to, and in furtherance of, a legitimate task of the Congress,’ Watkins, 354 U. S., at 187, courts must take adequate account of the separation of powers principles at stake, including both the significant legislative interests of Congress and the unique position of the President.”
“Congressional subpoenas for information from the President … implicate special concerns regarding the separation of powers. The courts below did not take adequate account of those concerns.”
The justices created a four-part test to determine whether a congressional effort to obtain personal papers from a sitting president is proper, The Politico added.
In a July filing following the court’s ruling, Douglas Letter, the House of Representative’s top lawyer, asked the Supreme Court justices to immediately effectuate the ruling so the House can ask the U.S. district court judge who initially heard the case for renewed consideration.
The filing read, “The committees’ investigations are ongoing, remain urgent, and have been impeded by the lack of finality in those litigations, which were initiated in April 2019.”
“Immediate issuance of this Court’s judgments would accelerate the proceedings in the lower courts so that the Committees may obtain the materials necessary to undertake any needed legislative reforms as quickly as possible to address, among other issues, conflicts of interest that threaten to undermine the Presidency, money-laundering and unsafe lending practices, and foreign interference in U.S. elections and any other ongoing threats to national security arising from President Trump’s foreign financial entanglements.”
Sources: Westernjournal, Politico, Abcnews, Thehill, Nytimes, Wsj, Cnbc, Nbcnews, supremecourt.gov
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