Justice Department: Trump's taxes can be present to Congress

 

Justice Department: Trump's taxes can be present to Congress


The Justice Department said Friday that the Treasury Department could release former President Donald Trump's tax returns to Congress, reversing its previous position that lawmakers lacked a legitimate legislative purpose when they requested the documents two years ago.


Trump, who broke years of precedent by refusing to release his tax returns, has managed to keep his financial records from lawmakers. But a 39-page legal opinion from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel said the House Ways and Means Committee, which asked the Internal Revenue Service for Trump's tax returns in 2019, "invoked sufficient grounds" for its request.


The legal memo also said the commission has exclusive access to tax information due to its role in overseeing the national tax system.

"Even if some members of Congress hoped to see information from the former president's tax returns disclosed in the public record merely for 'disclosure' ... that would not negate the legitimate purposes for which the committee received the information in a question it could serve," according to for the note.


The case is the subject of a lawsuit pending in federal court in Washington, DC, and it is unclear whether Trump's legal team plans to challenge the memo. Court filings show Trump will receive 72 hours' notice of handing his financial records to Congress.


"Access to former President Trump's tax returns is a matter of national security. The American people deserve to know the realities of their disturbing conflicts of interest and undermining our security and democracy as President," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.

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