Trump Appointed Judge Rules Against Him In Tax Return Case

By
Carissa House-Dunphy
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In 2014, Donald trump said that “If I decide to run for office, I’ll produce my tax returns, absolutely. And I would love to do that.” In 2016, he said his campaign was in the process of releasing his tax returns, telling Chuck Todd that “I have very big returns, as you know, and I have everything all approved and very beautiful and we’ll be working that over in the next period of time, Chuck. Absolutely.” After his win in 2016, Trump put the release of his taxes on hold, saying that he couldn’t release them while he was under audit (he could and still can). Later that year, he tweeted about the criticism from the media and voters, saying “I did what was an almost an impossible thing to do for a Republican-easily won the Electoral College! Now Tax Returns are brought up again?”

Those tax returns in 2021 are now being brought up again, again. The House Ways and Means Committee has requested Trump’s taxes in order to determine if the rules around the release of tax returns and audits of presidential returns should remain the same. A federal judge has agreed with them, dismissing Trump’s claims that they don’t need them and are just attempting a partisan attack.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden wrote in his decision, according to NBC News:

‘A long line of Supreme Court cases requires great deference to facially valid congressional inquiries. Even the special solicitude accorded former presidents does not alter the outcome.’

Despite Trump’s insistence that the request is nothing more than a “witch hunt,” unprecedented against any president in history, congressional tax committees have long been granted the power to request and receive tax documents.

‘House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., first asked for the tax information in April 2019, citing a federal law that requires the Treasury Department and the IRS to turn over individual tax returns when demanded by any of the three congressional tax committees.’

The judge warned that releasing Trump’s tax documents would be wrong if done solely for partisan gain, but that the law demanded that congressional committees’ requests for legal documents be honored.

‘McFadden on Tuesday rejected Trump’s claim that Congress had no legitimate need to see the returns and was simply hoping to find something embarrassing.

‘”Congress may not expose someone simply for the sake of exposure,” McFadden said. But he wrote that the committee’s desire to see how the IRS audits presidential returns could lead Congress to conclude that the authority needed to be enhanced.’



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