Report: Dems Eye Trump Tax Return Request In Two Weeks

UNITED STATES - JULY 24: Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., speaks during the news conference on legislation for U.S. assistance to Ukraine on Thursday, July 24, 2014. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
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The House Ways and Means Committee is planning on requesting Trump’s tax returns in two weeks, Politico reported Tuesday.

“We’re almost ready to go,” Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) reportedly told the news outlet.

“The chairman will be ready in two weeks to send his letter,” the congressman added. “And I volunteered to deliver it.”

An obscure, Roaring Twenties-era law allows the chairmen of three Congressional committees to request the returns of any filer. House Ways and Means committee chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) is the only Democrat empowered to do so under the law, and he has faced mounting calls from committee Democrats and activists to make the request.

Neal reportedly ordered committee lawyers to begin preparing the requests last week, and asked the heads of the Oversight, Intelligence, Judiciary, and Financial Services Committees to draft their own rationale for requesting Trump’s returns.

The request will likely be sent to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. House Democrats expect Mnuchin to refuse the request, setting the stage for a court battle.

To that end, Democrats have taken care to establish a legislative purpose for requesting Trump’s returns that they can cite in any litigation that could arise. The oversight subcommittee of House Ways and Means held a hearing last month on a legislative proposal in the Democrats’ marquee H.R. 1 package that would force all presidential and vice presidential candidates to disclose ten years of their tax returns.

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Notable Replies

  1. Ka Boom! Keep turning up the heat and put Donnie’s fat derriere on the Weber grill once the coals are fired up!

  2. The returns were not released for a reason. Trump is hiding something.

  3. I don’t know why it’s “in two weeks” and not “right friggin’ now”, but I try to be humble enough to admit there are things which are the way they are for good reasons which are beyond my understanding.

  4. The one good thing about trump’s refusal to release his taxes is that now politicians will feel more pressure to do so. Also, there will hopefully be a law requiring all elected officials to come clean.

  5. From yesterday …

    "Reacting to a House Judiciary Committee request for documents from the White House and dozens of his allies and associates Monday, President Donald Trump said ‘I cooperate all the time with everybody.’”

    From not yesterday …

    “Except for tax returns, except for Jared’s security clearance, except for questioning by Mueller, except for any other document request from Democrats, except, except, except …”

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