WASHINGTON – A federal judge late Tuesday removed former President Donald Trump look for lawsuits to block a House committee from received his tax return.
U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden said efforts by Trump’s attorneys to block the handover were against the law.
McFadden wrote: “A long line of Supreme Court cases claim a large difference in two valid congressional investigations. Even a special referendum order for former presidents did not change that. results,” McFadden wrote.
But the judge postponed his ruling for 14 days to give Trump’s legal team time to appeal.
A spokesman for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., first requested tax information in April 2019, citing federal law requiring the Treasury Department and the IRS to file tax returns. individuals when requested by any of the three congresses tax commissions.
The Treasury Department at the time refused to provide the documents, with the administration arguing that Congress had no legitimate law-making purpose to seek them out and was simply hoping to find something that could be found. could confuse Trump.
Neal extended the request earlier this year, saying the Ways and Means committee wants information to see how well the IRS is implementing its policy of automatically examining every presidential tax return. This time the Treasury Department, backed by the Justice Department’s legal position, said Trump’s profits should be turned over to Congress.
That leads to the current lawsuit.
McFadden on Tuesday dismissed Trump’s claim that Congress had no legitimate need to see the returns and was simply hoping to find something to embarrass him.
“Congress may not unmask someone for the sake of exposure,” McFadden said. But he wrote in the ruling that the commission’s desire to see how the IRS examines the president’s returns could lead Congress to conclude that authority should be strengthened.
While it is clear that the political opinions of other members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, about the shared desire to see Trump’s taxes, “the committee simply stated one purpose for legally valid. It did,” McFadden said.
McFadden, Trump’s nominee to the bench, ended his ruling by saying that Congress could accomplish its goals without making the profits public. “It may be improper or unwise to disclose returns, but it is the president’s right to do so,” although he also cautions that “disclosure of confidential tax information by a political opponent is the kind of move that will come back to plague the inventor.”
