The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee asked the IRS on Wednesday for six years of President Trump’s personal and business tax returns, a request with which the president immediately said he was not inclined to comply.
The committee chairman’s letter to the Internal Revenue Service — and Trump’s immediate and public response — set up what is likely to become an intense and drawn-out court fight as Democrats push to see tax records they think can shed light on numerous aspects of Trump’s business dealings and Trump resists their demands. The Ways and Means chairman’s request was expected but nonetheless represented a significant escalation in House Democrats’ wide-ranging probes of Trump and his administration.
The IRS was given until April 10 to respond. The panel’s chairman was able to make the request because of a 1924 law that gives the chairmen of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee broad powers to request and receive the tax returns of any American.
“Congress, as a coequal branch of government, has a duty to conduct oversight of departments and officials,” Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) said in a statement. “The Ways and Means Committee in particular has a responsibility to conduct oversight of our voluntary federal tax system and determine how Americans — including those elected to our highest office — are complying with those laws.”
Trump broke with precedent when he refused as a presidential candidate, and then when elected, to release his tax returns, something every president since Richard M. Nixon has done. The explanation he gave was that he was being audited, although numerous experts have said that an audit would not have prevented him from releasing his returns.
At an event at the White House on Wednesday after Neal issued his request, Trump repeated the same explanation.
“We are under audit, despite what people said, and working that out — I’m always under audit, it seems, but I’ve been under audit for many years because the numbers are big, and I guess when you have a name, you’re audited,” Trump said. “But until such time as I’m not under audit, I would not be inclined to do it.”
Privately, Trump has told White House advisers that he does not plan to hand over his tax returns to Congress — and that he would fight the issue to the Supreme Court, hoping to stall it until after the 2020 election, according to two administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the conversations. Treasury officials will not comply with the request until they are compelled to do so, the officials said.
Neal’s request, which was made in a two-page letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, seeks broad details about Trump’s personal tax returns from 2013 to 2018 — including whether the returns are or have been under audit.
Neal also sought information from entities within Trump’s sprawling business empire.
One of them, the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, is an umbrella entity that controls more than 100 other businesses, including his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida. Some of those businesses also own a variety of Trump’s homes, hotels, golf clubs, his properties in Scotland and his namesake hotel in downtown Washington.
Neil also made requests of DTTM Operations LLC and DTTM Operations Managing Member Corp, which own a number of other Trump LLCs. These businesses collect licensing fees from various Trump-branded products. On his personal financial disclosures, Trump has never reported any income from these entities.
Neal’s letter was carefully worded. Democrats had obsessed for weeks over the language because they thought it would need to stand up to a court challenge. The letter attempted to explain that the information requests were squarely within Congress’s legal authority.
It said Neal’s committee was “considering legislative proposals and conducting oversight related to our Federal tax laws, including, but not limited to, the extent to which the IRS audits and enforces the Federal tax laws against the President.” It added that the committee needed to determine how closely the IRS was scrutinizing Trump’s tax returns, including those of his businesses.
Neal did not say what he will do if the IRS does not comply with his request. A spokesman, Daniel Rubin, said: “We believe the law is clear, so we expect the IRS to comply. But we’re working through what our options are now, including all legal options, if they don’t comply.”
The request poses a major test for Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who becomes the first Cabinet member in modern history tasked with deciding whether to turn over his boss’s tax returns to the opposition party.
It is unclear what legal argument Mnuchin could make to refuse the request, as the tax records would be unlikely to be considered protected under “executive privilege” because they do not pertain to Trump’s actions during his time in the White House.
The law that allows Neal to request the returns says the treasury secretary “shall” turn over the relevant records. It does not appear to give Mnuchin much wiggle room.
Congressional Democrats have launched a number of investigations into Trump’s financial dealings and into allegations of abuse of power and public corruption. They think that the information contained in his tax returns could be critical to answering many of their questions, including whether he misrepresented his wealth to insurers and banks, and whether he has financial foreign-government ties that could cloud his judgment on foreign policy matters related to Russia or Saudi Arabia.
Mnuchin testified before Neal’s committee several weeks ago and was asked whether he would comply with such a request. He declined to answer, saying only that he would consult with his legal counsel. He remarked, however, that there appeared to be little precedent for Congress to seek the tax records of an elected official.
“I’m not aware if there’s ever been a request for an elected official’s tax return, but we will follow the law, and we will protect the president as we would protect any individual taxpayer under their rights,” Mnuchin said.
He also said he had not discussed the tax return matter with Trump or any other White House officials.
Neal’s letter was addressed to Rettig, a Trump appointee. But Mnuchin has signaled that he will be in the driver’s seat in making the ultimate decision on how to proceed. The IRS is a division of the Treasury Department.
Neal has been under pressure from some Democrats this year to move quickly on the tax returns request, given that the effort could lead to lengthy court battles.
“I take the authority to make this request very seriously, and I approach it with the utmost care and respect. This request is about policy, not politics,” Neal said in his letter to the IRS. “My actions reflect an abiding reverence for our democracy and our institutions, and are in no way based on emotion of the moment or partisanship.”
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said he views Neal’s request as political. Grassley added that he does not think he will be making a similar request for Trump’s returns — although Grassley has said previously that if House Democrats get Trump’s tax returns, he will want his committee to have them, too. Along with Neal, Grassley is the other congressional lawmaker with the legal power to request a person’s tax returns.
“I don’t think that things that Nixon and LBJ did to use the IRS for political purposes are legitimate, and I see this as political,” Grassley said. “I’m much in favor of any committee member, House or Senate, doing any oversight they want to of whether the laws are faithfully executed, because that’s our job under constitutional oversight. But doing it for political purposes is not legitimate.”
.
btw, Bernie (and others who haven’t done so) better cough up his before it becomes a problem – ye olde hypocrisy charge otherwise.
Bernie Sanders offers no clear timeline for release of tax returns
‘Sooner than later,’ Sanders tells CNN
(CNN) – “Soon.”
That is the response Sen. Bernie Sanders and his presidential campaign have repeatedly offered in response to questions about when he will release his personal tax returns.
“Sooner than later” is what Sanders told Wolf Blitzer at a CNN town hall in February, just a few days after he launched his bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Faiz Shakir, Sanders’ 2020 campaign manager, told reporters about the same during a briefing last month.
Sanders has yet to release his tax returns, and his campaign has not explained the process in any more precise detail, even as Sanders has repeatedly said that there is nothing revelatory or interesting about his financial situation. But the pressure to disclose is mounting as his Democratic primary opponents begin to release their own. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has put out a decade of returns and has challenged other candidates to do the same.
“I put the past 10 years of my federal tax returns online,” Warren tweeted on February 13, shortly before Sanders entered the race. “And now I’m calling on every other candidate for President to do exactly the same thing.” She has also posted an online petition calling “on everyone running for president to release their tax returns.”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was the first Democratic contender to release her 2018 tax return and had previously released prior years’ returns. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee have also disclosed their returns.
Others have yet to follow suit, but Sanders, as his critics often note, had a head start: this is his second presidential primary run. The questions surrounding his taxes are hardly new. And at a political moment when transparency has become a paramount issue for Democrats, prompted in part by President Donald Trump’s refusal to release his own tax records, Sanders’ hesitance has the potential to trip up his front-running candidacy.
On Sunday, Sanders said on CBS’ Face the Nation that the documents would be made public and suggested that his campaign was simply putting on the finishing touches.
“Yeah, we will. I mean, we have it all done and it’s just a question of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s,” Sanders said. “Yes, we will, absolutely.”
Boring or not, the long wait has intensified the scrutiny, and fueled public and private speculation, into what the documents might show. During the 2016 campaign, Sanders promised that he would produce a fuller accounting of his taxes if he became the nominee. He ultimately fell short, but under pressure from Hillary Clinton, who published 30 years of returns, he would make public his 2014 taxes, which revealed he and his wife, Jane, earned a little more than $200,000 — almost all of it from Sanders’ Senate salary — and paid about $28,000 in federal taxes. They also collected about $46,000 in Social Security benefits. Jane Sanders reported collecting $4,900 as a commissioner with the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission.
Asked by CNN’s Blitzer in February about the hold-up at the town hall, Sanders parried again.
“Our tax returns will bore you to death. It’s simply — nothing special about them,” he said. “It just was a mechanical issue. We don’t have accountants at home. My wife does most of it. And we will get that stuff out.”
As of 2015, the Center for Responsive Politics ranked Sanders’ wealth at 77th out of 100 in the Senate, at a little more than $700,000. It’s unclear where precisely he stands now, given his heightened public standing in the aftermath of the 2016 campaign and new book royalties.
On Sunday, when pressed on the issue during his CBS interview, Sanders eventually pivoted to put pressure on Trump.
“And by the way, let me challenge President Trump to do the same,” he said. “Trust me, we do not have investments in Russia or Saudi Arabia or anyplace else. Yes, we will be releasing them.”
Sanders’ financial situation — now and in the past — fits with the more fully drawn personal story his campaign has shared during the first months of his second presidential bid.
“My experience as a child living in a family that struggled economically, powerfully influenced my life and my values,” Sanders said in Brooklyn last month during his first official campaign rally. “I know where I came from, and that is something I will never forget. Unlike Donald Trump, who shut down the government and left 800,000 federal employees without income to pay the bills, I know what it’s like to be in a family that lives paycheck to paycheck.”
AOC reminds Trump in tweet about tax return request: ‘We didn’t ask you’
In a tweet Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., suggested that House Democrats won’t be taking no for an answer in seeking access to President Trump’s tax returns.
The freshman congresswoman boiled her view of the situation down to the following mock conversation between Congress and the president:
“Congress: ‘We’re going to need a copy of the President’s tax returns from 2013-2018.’
“45: ‘No, I’m ‘under audit.’
“Congress: ‘We didn’t ask you.’ “
[continues]
While we’re all thinking about money, take a gander at my candidate for the Senate seat now held by Trump’s best buddy in South Carolina. Here is the DNC’s page on my candidate, Jaime Harrison, an outstanding young man who needs all the attention he can get. Do a wiki on him; he’s impressive.Flatus
When SFB’s tax returns get to the Committee, it’s hard to say what happens next. Not sure what the law says, but bet that there will be a flurry of legal activity from the WH to prevent any release of the returns beyond the Committee staff.
On Sunday, Sanders said on CBS’ Face the Nation that the documents would be made public and suggested that his campaign was simply putting on the finishing touches.
“Yeah, we will. I mean, we have it all done and it’s just a question of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s,” Sanders said. “Yes, we will, absolutely.”
Can someone explain to me exactly WTF that means? We have engaged in primary and secondary loans within the past couple of months and we had to “release” our tax returns for the past 3 years. We went to the manila file folder we keep our copies in, copied them on the copier/printer we have at home, and attached them to the loan applications. Only the loan applications had i’s to dot and t’s to cross. We only needed 3 years but could have given them 10 – it would have taken another 10 minutes to copy them. I wish politicians would learn to answer something like “9:30” when they are asked what time it is rather than launch into an explanation about how to build a clock.
Would someone please play “Bigot Piggies” by Geo Harrison? I can’t get there from here.
Oops didn’t see the number of available Piggies is growing.
I am willing to accept Biden will stop and move on …but I am a little bit sick to my stomach to hear people defending him No one accused him of being a sexual harasser or Harvey Weinstein but he is handy and he obviously doesn’t understand why it is offensive — no one wants to be touched without permission
Margaret Carlson sucks eggs — she claims she is hugged all the time without permission — I guess she doesn’t stand up for herself and her willingness to be a carpet is nauseating . No one indiscriminately hugs me. Ever. By saying it’s ok she is perpetuating the right of old white men to randomlu touch whomever they want Gee Mags hoping for a job spewing shit for the Biden campaign Mre women are coming forward and she is busy discrediting them and minimizing their discomfort
She’s be perfect fit for the Biden campaign –another old whitey willing to go along to get along
I agree that “uncle” Joe needed a lesson about unwelcome hugging and kissing. What bothered me was these gestures being treated on the same level as Trump’s groping and grabbing of intimate body parts. The timing of five years after the fact from a Bernie supporter when pictures exist of her gripping his shoulder from behind. It is just a shade too suspect to say the least.
So maybe Biden will now learn that his space invasions are a no no and the proselytisers for other candidates can take at least one day off.
If Biden’s apology is good enough for Stacy Abrams… it’s good enough for me.
“should I not be someone who’s running…” [for something else, stacey?]
a hint that maybe just maybe she’ll take chuck up on his generous offer of support and run for senate??
renee, thanks for linking that response by stacey, not exactly one who is just “another old whitey” defending joe. here are excerpts :
[…]
“I am friends with Lucy Flores and I appreciate her bringing her story forward,” Abrams said, referring to the former Nevada assembly member who alleges Biden smelled her hair and kissed the back of her head without consent in 2014. “I also have deep respect for Vice President Joe Biden.”
She continued: “We cannot have perfection as a litmus test. The responsibility of leaders is to not be perfect but to be accountable, to say I’ve made a mistake, I understand it and here’s what I’m going to do to reform as I move forward. And I think we see Joe Biden doing that.”
[…]
“We’re going to find out things about everybody running for office ― whether it’s the presidency or the school board ― and we have to as a people be ready to forgive,” Abrams said. “But forgiveness does not mean you accept it, unless what you see is accountability and an attempt at reformation.″
[…]
Speculation has swirled in recent weeks that Biden was considering asking Abrams to be his 2020 running mate. Abrams has repeatedly denied such a scenario, noting that she is considering running for president herself.
“I do not believe you run for second place and I do not intend to enter a presidential race as a primary candidate for vice president,” Abrams told MSNBC on Thursday.
“If I enter the race for president I will enter the race for president,” she added. “But once we have a nominee … should I not be someone who’s running, I am open to conversations with anyone.”
The Justice Department addressed news reports that some members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team of investigators believe Attorney General William Barr failed to adequately summarize the findings of Mueller’s 22-month investigation in the four-page letter Barr sent to Congress in March.
Spokeswoman Kerri Kupec released a statement Thursday morning, saying the Justice Department was concerned about illegally releasing grand jury information, which is confidential.
“Every page of the ‘confidential report’ provided to Attorney General Barr on March 22, 2019 was marked ‘May Contain Material Protected Under Fed. R. Crim. P.6(e)’ — a law that protects confidential grand jury information — and therefore could not be publicly released,” she wrote.
She went on to explain the reasoning of the department in releasing what it has so far: the March letter.
“Given the extraordinary public interest in the matter, the Attorney General decided to release the report’s bottom-line findings and his conclusions immediately — without attempting to summarize the report — with the understanding that the report itself would be released after the redaction process. As the Attorney General stated in his March 29th letter to Chairman Graham and Chairman Nadler, he does not believe the report should be released in ‘serial or piecemeal fashion.’ The Department continues to work with the special counsel on appropriate redactions to the report so that it can be released to Congress and the public.”
[…]
Mr. Trump responded to reporting by the Times Thursday morning, shortly after Kupec released the statement.
“The New York Times had no legitimate sources, which would be totally illegal, concerning the Mueller Report. In fact, they probably had no sources at all! They are a Fake News paper who have already been forced to apologize for their incorrect and very bad reporting on me!” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. The Times has not been forced to apologize for their reporting about Mr. Trump, contrary to this tweet.
Barr has said he will release a redacted version of Mueller’s report to Congress sometime in April, although Democrats have asked for the full report to be released. Barr is set to testify before the House and the Senate Intelligence Committees next week.
“Just release the Mueller report … In the public domain there are comments that people on the Mueller team think there’s a mischaracterization by the attorney general, I don’t know, there is an easy answer to this: Release the Mueller report as soon as possible,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in her weekly press conference Thursday.
FBI Director Christopher Wray told the House Appropriations Committee Thursday he has not read Mueller’s report. The White House has also not received a preview copy of the report.
Subpoena barr duces tecum tomorrow for delivery to the House simultaneous to his appearance before the Joint H & S Intelligence Hearing. That way you already have him in custody, in case he fails to deliver the documents.
mick jagger is having heart valve replacement surgery in NYC. I’ve seen better looking centenarians. He should consider a face replacement, while he’s at it.
XR, I’m not sure what power the Congress has to enforce its subpoenas against the Executive Branch without getting a court order.
“The New York Times had no legitimate sources, which would be totally illegal, concerning the Mueller Report. In fact, they probably had no sources at all! They are a Fake News paper who have already been forced to apologize for their incorrect and very bad reporting on me!”
How predictable is that?
Mr Pogo,
they have the power, IF any of the 5 crooks on the SCOTUS choose to vote for actual originalism. However, in the real world, your skepticism is well-founded. That’s why it matters to have the guy in custody, surrounded by the Capitol Police.
“The New York Times had no legitimate sources, which would be totally illegal, concerning the Mueller Report.” – the orangeyewtan
Wtf does this mean ? Can anyone translate from orangeyewtanese into English Only ?
x-r, that sounds like a rumble between two gangs a la “west side story” — the caps against the servs –
imagine the snapping fingers and the swagger and the song echoing in the capitol rotunda
When you’re a Jet, You’re a Jet all the way From your first cigarette To your last dyin’ day. When you’re a Jet, Let them do what they can, You got brothers around, You’re a family man! You’re never alone, You’re never disconnected! You’re home with your own When company’s expected, You’re well protected! Then you are set With a capital J, Which you’ll never forget Till they cart you away.
caps vs. servs = capitol police vs. secret service
“Personal space is important, more important than it’s ever been.”
— Former vice president Joe Biden in an apologetic video posted to Twitter on Wednesday afternoon, as complaints continue to surface from people who found his intimate greetings deeply uncomfortable
Hello hello hello, yes I have just learned about personal space and I would like to apologize very much for all my prior behaviors. I have been bad and I am very sorry. I did not mean to lick your face just now but I was very excited to see you but I now understand that my behavior was wrong and I am sorry, so sorry, that I have been so bad. That whimpering noise you hear is me apologizing for my prior behaviors.
I just want to speak (I am good at speaking, and I am getting better at sitting all the time!) to say that as far as intentions went, I never meant to do anything wrong. Never! I love you! I just wanted to show you my love and respect, my deepest respect! From my perspective it is a deeply respectful greeting to circle someone slowly and then take a deep whiff of their posterior. I am confident that many I have encountered could think of no better way to be greeted! Also, I consider it a sign of love to lean firmly on your shoulders and attempt to lick your face. I am now hearing, I think, that this is not all right? It seems very black-and-white, but then again, so does everything.
* * *
I am also so, so sorry for my uncanny ability to locate the one person in a room whom my presence makes uncomfortable, to beeline directly for her and to attempt to pepper her face with kisses. That, I now realize, is BAD. Oh, I have been bad and I am so sorry but again I just wanted to love you! I just wanted to love you all and show you respect and I thought this was how! I know this behavior is not fetching. Fetching is when you run after a stick and bring it back.
Please judge me only by my intentions and do not lock me out of the house! Personal space is a new concept to me, but it sounds very important, and I am eager to learn!
Look, to show you that I am sorry, here is something stinky that I picked up in the middle of the road. People like things that are in the middle of the road, I think!
I understand about the new ways. I can learn. I will not do the other things when I meet people. I will just gnaw gently on their shoes. That shows respect, I bet. I hope. It is very confusing.
After all, I am only a dog. I cannot be held to human standards.
Ah, Ms Pat,
Do you really think ‘butter’ barr would go to Capitol Hill w/the Sec Serv ?
Would his morbidly obese carcass arrive on a litter, carried by 12 strong G-men ?
Capitol Police Chief : “Hands up !” CRASH ! POP ! ! !
Capitol Police Chief : “Oh, jeez. How do you clean grease off of marble ?”
Marvel Comix/Disney might be able to do the scene justice.
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, one of President Trump’s most devoted loyalists on Capitol Hill who represents the Florida Panhandle, has told GOP colleagues he is considering moving across the state line to run for the Senate in Alabama in 2020, several House lawmakers told The Hill.
Some of those discussions took place as recently as Thursday. The rumor had been bouncing around the Capitol for weeks but took a more serious turn in recent days when Gaetz began privately discussing the idea with fellow lawmakers.
“He’s talking about running for Senate in Alabama. They have a one-day residency requirement there,” said a GOP lawmaker who knows Gaetz well. “POTUS [President of the United States] would probably endorse him.”
Sources close to Gaetz, 36, said that “people in Trump’s orbit” are personally encouraging the sophomore congressman to run for the Senate seat now held by freshman Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.). Those Trump allies are pointing to Alabama’s liberal requirement that people can run for the Senate so long as they are 30 years old and have been a resident for a minimum of one day.
Gaetz would be pitted him against Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) in the GOP primary. Byrne, 64, has been traversing the Yellowhammer State for nearly a year to meet with voters and officially launched his Senate bid in February.
If all the Whistle blowing gets any louder they will sound like Vuvuzelas
XR, what I meant is that I am not sure what remedies Congress has after finding someone in contempt of Congress to force compliance from the Executive Branch without a court ruling ordering the production. There may be some, but I don’t know what they are. I don’t have any faith in the Wiki article on the subject, but if I read it correctly and it is correct, the remedies are through the Courts.
patd, either of those terms would fit, but I can think of a few other names that would apply that wouldn’t sound like genteel and archaic terms.
In my mystery radio voice:
Yes, friends, once again The Good must face off with The Bad…….who, in this case, also happen to be—-The Ugly.
Mr Pogo, you’re right, of course. Unless the executive asks how many divisions the court has.
But that would never happen, ‘cuz the Asshole Quintet of the SCOTUS would just whistle, Blowing in the Wind.
Olives me that edit button !
Ryan and Swalwell are running. Maybe I should, too. Fire might strike.
X-R, X-R, X-R
I”d vote for you early and often
Run, XR, run!
Ok, so I’m sitting at my desk in my starched white shirt listening to George’s Little Piggies and thinking “Sigh, looking forward to getting home to try & learn Paul’s Blackbird on the EJ160.” Can’t make sense of this shit.
So I’m watching Bernie! on Trevor Noah’s show and I wouldn’t be embarrassed if I were a Bernie! supporter. For me that’s a quantum leap.
I’m still only considering a run, so it is way too early for all those women to accuse me of the vile things I’ve done. Way, waaaay too early. I freely confess that I have not always been proud of my conduct, but those days are behind me, with my beautiful supportive wife Sweetie, and we should set our sights forward, not backward. Forward ! Yup, I’ve always been very forward.
Now, send me money to help me make my momentous decision !
as trail house counsel would so wisely say: BWAHAHAHA
wapo:
The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee asked the IRS on Wednesday for six years of President Trump’s personal and business tax returns, a request with which the president immediately said he was not inclined to comply.
The committee chairman’s letter to the Internal Revenue Service — and Trump’s immediate and public response — set up what is likely to become an intense and drawn-out court fight as Democrats push to see tax records they think can shed light on numerous aspects of Trump’s business dealings and Trump resists their demands. The Ways and Means chairman’s request was expected but nonetheless represented a significant escalation in House Democrats’ wide-ranging probes of Trump and his administration.
The IRS was given until April 10 to respond. The panel’s chairman was able to make the request because of a 1924 law that gives the chairmen of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee broad powers to request and receive the tax returns of any American.
“Congress, as a coequal branch of government, has a duty to conduct oversight of departments and officials,” Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) said in a statement. “The Ways and Means Committee in particular has a responsibility to conduct oversight of our voluntary federal tax system and determine how Americans — including those elected to our highest office — are complying with those laws.”
Trump broke with precedent when he refused as a presidential candidate, and then when elected, to release his tax returns, something every president since Richard M. Nixon has done. The explanation he gave was that he was being audited, although numerous experts have said that an audit would not have prevented him from releasing his returns.
At an event at the White House on Wednesday after Neal issued his request, Trump repeated the same explanation.
“We are under audit, despite what people said, and working that out — I’m always under audit, it seems, but I’ve been under audit for many years because the numbers are big, and I guess when you have a name, you’re audited,” Trump said. “But until such time as I’m not under audit, I would not be inclined to do it.”
Privately, Trump has told White House advisers that he does not plan to hand over his tax returns to Congress — and that he would fight the issue to the Supreme Court, hoping to stall it until after the 2020 election, according to two administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the conversations. Treasury officials will not comply with the request until they are compelled to do so, the officials said.
Neal’s request, which was made in a two-page letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, seeks broad details about Trump’s personal tax returns from 2013 to 2018 — including whether the returns are or have been under audit.
Neal also sought information from entities within Trump’s sprawling business empire.
One of them, the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, is an umbrella entity that controls more than 100 other businesses, including his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida. Some of those businesses also own a variety of Trump’s homes, hotels, golf clubs, his properties in Scotland and his namesake hotel in downtown Washington.
Neil also made requests of DTTM Operations LLC and DTTM Operations Managing Member Corp, which own a number of other Trump LLCs. These businesses collect licensing fees from various Trump-branded products. On his personal financial disclosures, Trump has never reported any income from these entities.
Neal’s letter was carefully worded. Democrats had obsessed for weeks over the language because they thought it would need to stand up to a court challenge. The letter attempted to explain that the information requests were squarely within Congress’s legal authority.
It said Neal’s committee was “considering legislative proposals and conducting oversight related to our Federal tax laws, including, but not limited to, the extent to which the IRS audits and enforces the Federal tax laws against the President.” It added that the committee needed to determine how closely the IRS was scrutinizing Trump’s tax returns, including those of his businesses.
Neal did not say what he will do if the IRS does not comply with his request. A spokesman, Daniel Rubin, said: “We believe the law is clear, so we expect the IRS to comply. But we’re working through what our options are now, including all legal options, if they don’t comply.”
The request poses a major test for Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who becomes the first Cabinet member in modern history tasked with deciding whether to turn over his boss’s tax returns to the opposition party.
It is unclear what legal argument Mnuchin could make to refuse the request, as the tax records would be unlikely to be considered protected under “executive privilege” because they do not pertain to Trump’s actions during his time in the White House.
The law that allows Neal to request the returns says the treasury secretary “shall” turn over the relevant records. It does not appear to give Mnuchin much wiggle room.
[continues]
[rest of the wapo article linked above]
Congressional Democrats have launched a number of investigations into Trump’s financial dealings and into allegations of abuse of power and public corruption. They think that the information contained in his tax returns could be critical to answering many of their questions, including whether he misrepresented his wealth to insurers and banks, and whether he has financial foreign-government ties that could cloud his judgment on foreign policy matters related to Russia or Saudi Arabia.
Mnuchin testified before Neal’s committee several weeks ago and was asked whether he would comply with such a request. He declined to answer, saying only that he would consult with his legal counsel. He remarked, however, that there appeared to be little precedent for Congress to seek the tax records of an elected official.
“I’m not aware if there’s ever been a request for an elected official’s tax return, but we will follow the law, and we will protect the president as we would protect any individual taxpayer under their rights,” Mnuchin said.
He also said he had not discussed the tax return matter with Trump or any other White House officials.
Neal’s letter was addressed to Rettig, a Trump appointee. But Mnuchin has signaled that he will be in the driver’s seat in making the ultimate decision on how to proceed. The IRS is a division of the Treasury Department.
Neal has been under pressure from some Democrats this year to move quickly on the tax returns request, given that the effort could lead to lengthy court battles.
“I take the authority to make this request very seriously, and I approach it with the utmost care and respect. This request is about policy, not politics,” Neal said in his letter to the IRS. “My actions reflect an abiding reverence for our democracy and our institutions, and are in no way based on emotion of the moment or partisanship.”
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said he views Neal’s request as political. Grassley added that he does not think he will be making a similar request for Trump’s returns — although Grassley has said previously that if House Democrats get Trump’s tax returns, he will want his committee to have them, too. Along with Neal, Grassley is the other congressional lawmaker with the legal power to request a person’s tax returns.
“I don’t think that things that Nixon and LBJ did to use the IRS for political purposes are legitimate, and I see this as political,” Grassley said. “I’m much in favor of any committee member, House or Senate, doing any oversight they want to of whether the laws are faithfully executed, because that’s our job under constitutional oversight. But doing it for political purposes is not legitimate.”
.
btw, Bernie (and others who haven’t done so) better cough up his before it becomes a problem – ye olde hypocrisy charge otherwise.
from KEYT:
Bernie Sanders offers no clear timeline for release of tax returns
‘Sooner than later,’ Sanders tells CNN
(CNN) – “Soon.”
That is the response Sen. Bernie Sanders and his presidential campaign have repeatedly offered in response to questions about when he will release his personal tax returns.
“Sooner than later” is what Sanders told Wolf Blitzer at a CNN town hall in February, just a few days after he launched his bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Faiz Shakir, Sanders’ 2020 campaign manager, told reporters about the same during a briefing last month.
Sanders has yet to release his tax returns, and his campaign has not explained the process in any more precise detail, even as Sanders has repeatedly said that there is nothing revelatory or interesting about his financial situation. But the pressure to disclose is mounting as his Democratic primary opponents begin to release their own. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has put out a decade of returns and has challenged other candidates to do the same.
“I put the past 10 years of my federal tax returns online,” Warren tweeted on February 13, shortly before Sanders entered the race. “And now I’m calling on every other candidate for President to do exactly the same thing.” She has also posted an online petition calling “on everyone running for president to release their tax returns.”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was the first Democratic contender to release her 2018 tax return and had previously released prior years’ returns. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee have also disclosed their returns.
Others have yet to follow suit, but Sanders, as his critics often note, had a head start: this is his second presidential primary run. The questions surrounding his taxes are hardly new. And at a political moment when transparency has become a paramount issue for Democrats, prompted in part by President Donald Trump’s refusal to release his own tax records, Sanders’ hesitance has the potential to trip up his front-running candidacy.
On Sunday, Sanders said on CBS’ Face the Nation that the documents would be made public and suggested that his campaign was simply putting on the finishing touches.
“Yeah, we will. I mean, we have it all done and it’s just a question of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s,” Sanders said. “Yes, we will, absolutely.”
Boring or not, the long wait has intensified the scrutiny, and fueled public and private speculation, into what the documents might show. During the 2016 campaign, Sanders promised that he would produce a fuller accounting of his taxes if he became the nominee. He ultimately fell short, but under pressure from Hillary Clinton, who published 30 years of returns, he would make public his 2014 taxes, which revealed he and his wife, Jane, earned a little more than $200,000 — almost all of it from Sanders’ Senate salary — and paid about $28,000 in federal taxes. They also collected about $46,000 in Social Security benefits. Jane Sanders reported collecting $4,900 as a commissioner with the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission.
Asked by CNN’s Blitzer in February about the hold-up at the town hall, Sanders parried again.
“Our tax returns will bore you to death. It’s simply — nothing special about them,” he said. “It just was a mechanical issue. We don’t have accountants at home. My wife does most of it. And we will get that stuff out.”
As of 2015, the Center for Responsive Politics ranked Sanders’ wealth at 77th out of 100 in the Senate, at a little more than $700,000. It’s unclear where precisely he stands now, given his heightened public standing in the aftermath of the 2016 campaign and new book royalties.
On Sunday, when pressed on the issue during his CBS interview, Sanders eventually pivoted to put pressure on Trump.
“And by the way, let me challenge President Trump to do the same,” he said. “Trust me, we do not have investments in Russia or Saudi Arabia or anyplace else. Yes, we will be releasing them.”
Sanders’ financial situation — now and in the past — fits with the more fully drawn personal story his campaign has shared during the first months of his second presidential bid.
“My experience as a child living in a family that struggled economically, powerfully influenced my life and my values,” Sanders said in Brooklyn last month during his first official campaign rally. “I know where I came from, and that is something I will never forget. Unlike Donald Trump, who shut down the government and left 800,000 federal employees without income to pay the bills, I know what it’s like to be in a family that lives paycheck to paycheck.”
fox news:
AOC reminds Trump in tweet about tax return request: ‘We didn’t ask you’
In a tweet Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., suggested that House Democrats won’t be taking no for an answer in seeking access to President Trump’s tax returns.
The freshman congresswoman boiled her view of the situation down to the following mock conversation between Congress and the president:
“Congress: ‘We’re going to need a copy of the President’s tax returns from 2013-2018.’
“45: ‘No, I’m ‘under audit.’
“Congress: ‘We didn’t ask you.’ “
[continues]
While we’re all thinking about money, take a gander at my candidate for the Senate seat now held by Trump’s best buddy in South Carolina. Here is the DNC’s page on my candidate, Jaime Harrison, an outstanding young man who needs all the attention he can get. Do a wiki on him; he’s impressive.Flatus
When SFB’s tax returns get to the Committee, it’s hard to say what happens next. Not sure what the law says, but bet that there will be a flurry of legal activity from the WH to prevent any release of the returns beyond the Committee staff.
Can someone explain to me exactly WTF that means? We have engaged in primary and secondary loans within the past couple of months and we had to “release” our tax returns for the past 3 years. We went to the manila file folder we keep our copies in, copied them on the copier/printer we have at home, and attached them to the loan applications. Only the loan applications had i’s to dot and t’s to cross. We only needed 3 years but could have given them 10 – it would have taken another 10 minutes to copy them. I wish politicians would learn to answer something like “9:30” when they are asked what time it is rather than launch into an explanation about how to build a clock.
comment above yours Sturg the site is wacky
Would someone please play “Bigot Piggies” by Geo Harrison? I can’t get there from here.
Oops didn’t see the number of available Piggies is growing.
I am willing to accept Biden will stop and move on …but I am a little bit sick to my stomach to hear people defending him No one accused him of being a sexual harasser or Harvey Weinstein but he is handy and he obviously doesn’t understand why it is offensive — no one wants to be touched without permission
Margaret Carlson sucks eggs — she claims she is hugged all the time without permission — I guess she doesn’t stand up for herself and her willingness to be a carpet is nauseating . No one indiscriminately hugs me. Ever. By saying it’s ok she is perpetuating the right of old white men to randomlu touch whomever they want Gee Mags hoping for a job spewing shit for the Biden campaign Mre women are coming forward and she is busy discrediting them and minimizing their discomfort
She’s be perfect fit for the Biden campaign –another old whitey willing to go along to get along
I agree that “uncle” Joe needed a lesson about unwelcome hugging and kissing. What bothered me was these gestures being treated on the same level as Trump’s groping and grabbing of intimate body parts. The timing of five years after the fact from a Bernie supporter when pictures exist of her gripping his shoulder from behind. It is just a shade too suspect to say the least.
So maybe Biden will now learn that his space invasions are a no no and the proselytisers for other candidates can take at least one day off.
If Biden’s apology is good enough for Stacy Abrams… it’s good enough for me.
Stacy Abrams Defends Joe Bide: “We Cannot Have Perfection As A Litmus Test”…
“should I not be someone who’s running…” [for something else, stacey?]
a hint that maybe just maybe she’ll take chuck up on his generous offer of support and run for senate??
renee, thanks for linking that response by stacey, not exactly one who is just “another old whitey” defending joe. here are excerpts :
[…]
“I am friends with Lucy Flores and I appreciate her bringing her story forward,” Abrams said, referring to the former Nevada assembly member who alleges Biden smelled her hair and kissed the back of her head without consent in 2014. “I also have deep respect for Vice President Joe Biden.”
She continued: “We cannot have perfection as a litmus test. The responsibility of leaders is to not be perfect but to be accountable, to say I’ve made a mistake, I understand it and here’s what I’m going to do to reform as I move forward. And I think we see Joe Biden doing that.”
[…]
“We’re going to find out things about everybody running for office ― whether it’s the presidency or the school board ― and we have to as a people be ready to forgive,” Abrams said. “But forgiveness does not mean you accept it, unless what you see is accountability and an attempt at reformation.″
[…]
Speculation has swirled in recent weeks that Biden was considering asking Abrams to be his 2020 running mate. Abrams has repeatedly denied such a scenario, noting that she is considering running for president herself.
“I do not believe you run for second place and I do not intend to enter a presidential race as a primary candidate for vice president,” Abrams told MSNBC on Thursday.
“If I enter the race for president I will enter the race for president,” she added. “But once we have a nominee … should I not be someone who’s running, I am open to conversations with anyone.”
DOJ addresses reports that some on Mueller team unhappy with Barr letter
The Justice Department addressed news reports that some members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team of investigators believe Attorney General William Barr failed to adequately summarize the findings of Mueller’s 22-month investigation in the four-page letter Barr sent to Congress in March.
Spokeswoman Kerri Kupec released a statement Thursday morning, saying the Justice Department was concerned about illegally releasing grand jury information, which is confidential.
“Every page of the ‘confidential report’ provided to Attorney General Barr on March 22, 2019 was marked ‘May Contain Material Protected Under Fed. R. Crim. P.6(e)’ — a law that protects confidential grand jury information — and therefore could not be publicly released,” she wrote.
She went on to explain the reasoning of the department in releasing what it has so far: the March letter.
“Given the extraordinary public interest in the matter, the Attorney General decided to release the report’s bottom-line findings and his conclusions immediately — without attempting to summarize the report — with the understanding that the report itself would be released after the redaction process. As the Attorney General stated in his March 29th letter to Chairman Graham and Chairman Nadler, he does not believe the report should be released in ‘serial or piecemeal fashion.’ The Department continues to work with the special counsel on appropriate redactions to the report so that it can be released to Congress and the public.”
[…]
Mr. Trump responded to reporting by the Times Thursday morning, shortly after Kupec released the statement.
“The New York Times had no legitimate sources, which would be totally illegal, concerning the Mueller Report. In fact, they probably had no sources at all! They are a Fake News paper who have already been forced to apologize for their incorrect and very bad reporting on me!” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. The Times has not been forced to apologize for their reporting about Mr. Trump, contrary to this tweet.
Barr has said he will release a redacted version of Mueller’s report to Congress sometime in April, although Democrats have asked for the full report to be released. Barr is set to testify before the House and the Senate Intelligence Committees next week.
“Just release the Mueller report … In the public domain there are comments that people on the Mueller team think there’s a mischaracterization by the attorney general, I don’t know, there is an easy answer to this: Release the Mueller report as soon as possible,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in her weekly press conference Thursday.
FBI Director Christopher Wray told the House Appropriations Committee Thursday he has not read Mueller’s report. The White House has also not received a preview copy of the report.
Subpoena barr duces tecum tomorrow for delivery to the House simultaneous to his appearance before the Joint H & S Intelligence Hearing. That way you already have him in custody, in case he fails to deliver the documents.
mick jagger is having heart valve replacement surgery in NYC. I’ve seen better looking centenarians. He should consider a face replacement, while he’s at it.
XR, I’m not sure what power the Congress has to enforce its subpoenas against the Executive Branch without getting a court order.
“The New York Times had no legitimate sources, which would be totally illegal, concerning the Mueller Report. In fact, they probably had no sources at all! They are a Fake News paper who have already been forced to apologize for their incorrect and very bad reporting on me!”
How predictable is that?
Mr Pogo,
they have the power, IF any of the 5 crooks on the SCOTUS choose to vote for actual originalism. However, in the real world, your skepticism is well-founded. That’s why it matters to have the guy in custody, surrounded by the Capitol Police.
“The New York Times had no legitimate sources, which would be totally illegal, concerning the Mueller Report.” – the orangeyewtan
Wtf does this mean ? Can anyone translate from orangeyewtanese into English Only ?
x-r, that sounds like a rumble between two gangs a la “west side story” — the caps against the servs –
imagine the snapping fingers and the swagger and the song echoing in the capitol rotunda
When you’re a Jet,
You’re a Jet all the way
From your first cigarette
To your last dyin’ day.
When you’re a Jet,
Let them do what they can,
You got brothers around,
You’re a family man!
You’re never alone,
You’re never disconnected!
You’re home with your own
When company’s expected,
You’re well protected!
Then you are set
With a capital J,
Which you’ll never forget
Till they cart you away.
caps vs. servs = capitol police vs. secret service
Alexandra Petri strikes again.
Ah, Ms Pat,
Do you really think ‘butter’ barr would go to Capitol Hill w/the Sec Serv ?
Would his morbidly obese carcass arrive on a litter, carried by 12 strong G-men ?
Capitol Police Chief : “Hands up !”
CRASH ! POP ! ! !
Capitol Police Chief : “Oh, jeez. How do you clean grease off of marble ?”
Marvel Comix/Disney might be able to do the scene justice.
pogo, wouldn’t this make him a “carpetbagger”?
or just a scalawag
the hill:
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, one of President Trump’s most devoted loyalists on Capitol Hill who represents the Florida Panhandle, has told GOP colleagues he is considering moving across the state line to run for the Senate in Alabama in 2020, several House lawmakers told The Hill.
Some of those discussions took place as recently as Thursday. The rumor had been bouncing around the Capitol for weeks but took a more serious turn in recent days when Gaetz began privately discussing the idea with fellow lawmakers.
“He’s talking about running for Senate in Alabama. They have a one-day residency requirement there,” said a GOP lawmaker who knows Gaetz well. “POTUS [President of the United States] would probably endorse him.”
Sources close to Gaetz, 36, said that “people in Trump’s orbit” are personally encouraging the sophomore congressman to run for the Senate seat now held by freshman Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.). Those Trump allies are pointing to Alabama’s liberal requirement that people can run for the Senate so long as they are 30 years old and have been a resident for a minimum of one day.
Gaetz would be pitted him against Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) in the GOP primary. Byrne, 64, has been traversing the Yellowhammer State for nearly a year to meet with voters and officially launched his Senate bid in February.
[continues]
Dozens’ of Whistle-Blowers Are Secretly Cooperating With House Democrats
If all the Whistle blowing gets any louder they will sound like Vuvuzelas
XR, what I meant is that I am not sure what remedies Congress has after finding someone in contempt of Congress to force compliance from the Executive Branch without a court ruling ordering the production. There may be some, but I don’t know what they are. I don’t have any faith in the Wiki article on the subject, but if I read it correctly and it is correct, the remedies are through the Courts.
patd, either of those terms would fit, but I can think of a few other names that would apply that wouldn’t sound like genteel and archaic terms.
In my mystery radio voice:
Yes, friends, once again The Good must face off with The Bad…….who, in this case, also happen to be—-The Ugly.
Mr Pogo, you’re right, of course. Unless the executive asks how many divisions the court has.
But that would never happen, ‘cuz the Asshole Quintet of the SCOTUS would just whistle, Blowing in the Wind.
Olives me that edit button !
Ryan and Swalwell are running. Maybe I should, too. Fire might strike.
X-R, X-R, X-R
I”d vote for you early and often
Run, XR, run!
Ok, so I’m sitting at my desk in my starched white shirt listening to George’s Little Piggies and thinking “Sigh, looking forward to getting home to try & learn Paul’s Blackbird on the EJ160.” Can’t make sense of this shit.
So I’m watching Bernie! on Trevor Noah’s show and I wouldn’t be embarrassed if I were a Bernie! supporter. For me that’s a quantum leap.
I’m still only considering a run, so it is way too early for all those women to accuse me of the vile things I’ve done. Way, waaaay too early. I freely confess that I have not always been proud of my conduct, but those days are behind me, with my beautiful supportive wife Sweetie, and we should set our sights forward, not backward. Forward ! Yup, I’ve always been very forward.
Now, send me money to help me make my momentous decision !
NEW THREAD
coming up at 6:04 a.m.
thanks to a hint from pogo