U.S. House committee seeks Trump tax returns from IRS

APRIL 3, 2019 / 4:19 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
U.S. House committee seeks Trump tax returns from IRS
David Morgan | Reuters
4 MIN READ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic chairman of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee asked the Internal Revenue Service for six years of President Donald Trump’s personal and business tax returns on Wednesday, in a long-awaited move that is widely expected to lead to a lengthy court battle with the Trump administration.

The request, in a letter from Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, is viewed by Democrats in the House of Representatives as a vital first step toward oversight of Trump’s income taxes and business network, which some lawmakers believe could be rife with conflicts of interest and potential tax law violations.

“It is critical to ensure the accountability of our government and elected officials. To maintain trust in our democracy, the American people must be assured that their government is operating properly, as laws intend,” Neal, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement.

IRS and U.S. Treasury officials were not immediately available for comment.

Trump defied decades of precedent as a presidential candidate by refusing to release the tax documents and has continued to keep them under wraps as president, saying his returns were “under audit” by the IRS.

Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen recently testified in Congress that he does not believe the president is being audited.

But Trump continued to make the claim on Wednesday.

“We’re under audit despite what people said, and we’re working that out as 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 at a White House meeting with U.S. military leaders.

“But until such time as I’m not under audit, I would not be inclined to do that,” he said in response to a reporter’s question about the committee’s request.

Neal based his request on his committee’s oversight jurisdiction of the IRS, specifically its alleged audits of Trump and the extent to which the agency has enforced the tax laws against the president.

Independent analysts welcomed the move.

“The Ways and Means Committee’s strongest oversight ability is making sure the IRS is operating properly,” said Steve Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center think tank in Washington.

It was the third time this week that a Democratic-led House committee exerted oversight pressure on Trump. Earlier on Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee authorized its chairman to subpoena Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s full investigation report on Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election.

The House Oversight Committee had subpoenaed a former White House security chief on Tuesday.

Republicans oppose Neal’s effort, saying such a move sets a dangerous precedent by turning the confidential tax documents of a U.S. citizen into a political weapon.

“This particular request is an abuse of the tax-writing committees’ statutory authority and violates the intent and safeguards of ... the Internal Revenue Code,” Representative Kevin Brady, the committee’s top Republican, said in a statement.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-tax/u-s-house-committee-seeks-trump-tax-returns-from-irs-idUSKCN1RF2S1

posted 13 hours ago
Trump loses lawsuit challenging subpoena for financial records
By Jan Wolfe

(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday ruled in favour of a U.S. House of Representatives committee seeking President Donald Trump's financial records from his accounting firm, dealing an early setback to the Trump administration in its legal battle with Congress.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington also denied a request by Trump to stay his decision pending an appeal.

Last Tuesday Mehta heard oral arguments on whether Mazars LLP must comply with a House of Representatives Oversight Committee subpoena.

Mehta said in Monday's ruling that the committee "has shown that it is not engaged in a pure fishing expedition for the President's financial records" and that the Mazars documents might assist Congress in passing laws and performing other core functions.

"It is simply not fathomable that a Constitution that grants Congress the power to remove a President for reasons including criminal behaviour would deny Congress the power to investigate him for unlawful conduct — past or present — even without formally opening an impeachment inquiry," Mehta said.

Mehta said Mazars has seven days to comply with the subpoena. Trump's lawyers are almost certain to urge an appeals court to extend the deadline and then reverse Mehta's decision.

It was the first time a federal court had waded into the tussle about how far Congress can go in probing Trump and his business affairs.

A lawyer for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump is refusing to cooperate with a series of investigations on issues ranging from his tax returns and policy decisions to his Washington hotel and his children's security clearances.

The standoff deepened on Monday when Trump told former White House counsel Don McGahn to defy a subpoena to testify about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation before a different congressional committee.

Trump's lawyers have argued that Congress is on a quest to "turn up something that Democrats can use as a political tool against the president now and in the 2020 election."

The House Oversight Committee claims sweeping investigative power and says it needs Trump's financial records to examine whether he has conflicts of interest or broke the law by not disentangling himself from his business holdings, as previous presidents did.

Lawyers for Trump and the Trump Organization, his company, last month filed a lawsuit to block the committee's subpoena, saying it exceeded Congress' constitutional limits.

Mehta was appointed in 2014 by Democratic former President Barack Obama, who was often investigated by Republicans in Congress during his two terms in office.

Mazars has avoided taking sides in the dispute and said it will "comply with all legal obligations."

05/21/2019 03:38 am ET Updated 6 hours ago
Trump Appeal Now Goes To Court Headed By Merrick Garland
Twitter users can’t stop laughing at the irony of the situation.
By Ed Mazza

President Donald Trump’s attorneys have vowed to appeal Monday’s decision in favor of a House committee seeking his financial records, but people on Twitter were thrilled about where the case will end up.

Full story, tweets, and video at https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-appeal-merrick-garland_n_5ce37e84e4b075a35a2c285d

MAY 22, 2019 / 4:17 AM / UPDATED 25 MINUTES AGO
Trump loses court round on Democratic lawmakers' demand that banks provide his business records
Brendan Pierson
5 MIN READ

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump, three of his children and the Trump Organization on Wednesday lost their bid to block Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp from providing financial records to Democratic lawmakers investigating Trump’s businesses.

U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos ruled at a court hearing in New York that Congress has the legal authority to demand the records, clearing the way for the banks to comply with subpoenas issued to them by two U.S. House of Representatives committees last month.

It was the second time this week that a judge had ruled against the Republican president in his fight with Democrats. Trump’s lawyers were expected to appeal both decisions. Ramos said he would not suspend his decision pending appeal.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Deutsche Bank said it would abide by the court’s decision. Capital One did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Republican Trump, who is seeking re-election next year, has aggressively sought to defy congressional oversight of his administration since Democrats took control of the House in January.

Trump loses court round in U.S. Democratic lawmakers demand for bank documents on his businesses
Ramos, reading his ruling from the bench, said that the committees had the power to issue the subpoenas under Congress’ “broad” power to conduct investigations to further legislation.

He also rejected Trump’s argument that they were barred by a federal financial privacy law, the Right to Financial Privacy Act, saying the law does not apply to congressional investigations.

Trump said last month that the administration was “fighting all the subpoenas” issued by the House, hardening his position after the release of a redacted report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller on how Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election to help Trump and the president’s attempts to impede the investigation.

Some parts of the subpoenas have been included in court filings. The subpoena on Deutsche Bank seeks extensive records of accounts, transactions and investments linked to Trump, his three oldest children, their immediate family members and several Trump Organization entities, as well as records of ties they might have to foreign entities.

Deutsche Bank has long been a principal lender for Trump’s real estate business and a 2017 disclosure form showed that Trump had at least $130 million of liabilities to the bank.

The subpoena on Capital One seeks records related to multiple entities tied to the Trump Organization’s hotel business. In March, before issuing their subpoena, Democratic lawmakers asked Capital One for documents concerning potential conflicts of interest tied to Trump’s Washington hotel and other business interests since he became president in January 2017.

Trump, his adult children, Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka, and the Trump Organization had sought a preliminary injunction to prevent Deutsche Bank complying with the subpoenas from the House Financial Services Committee and the House Intelligence Committee, and Capital One from complying with a subpoena from the Financial Services Committee.

In a lawsuit filed on April 29, lawyers for the Trumps argued that the subpoenas were too broad, and that Democrats are hoping they will “stumble upon something” that could be used for political attacks on the president.

“The subpoenas were issued to harass President Donald J. Trump, to rummage through every aspect of his personal finances, his businesses, and the private information of the President and his family,” the complaint said.

The banks are the only defendants in the case, but the House committees intervened to oppose Trump’s effort to block the subpoenas.

“We remain committed to providing appropriate information to all authorized investigations and will abide by a court order regarding such investigations,” Deutsche Bank said in a statement ahead of the hearing. Capital One declined comment before the hearing.

Representative Maxine Waters, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, told reporters after the lawsuit was filed that Trump had “cast a gauntlet.” “We will fight him,” she said.

On Monday, a federal judge in Washington ruled against the president in a similar case, finding that Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars LLP, must comply with a congressional subpoena for Trump’s financial records.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta found that Congress was “not engaged in a fishing expedition for the President’s financial records when it subpoenaed Mazars and said that documents obtained might assist Congress in passing laws and performing other core functions.

Trump called Mehta’s decision “crazy” and “totally the wrong decision by obviously an Obama-appointed judge,” referring to Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. Ramos, the judge in the New York case, was also appointed by Obama.

Democrats win the "Biggest Butthurt In History" award by a mile!