Dems subpoena Trump tax returns
WASHINGTON— Democratic Party congressmen pressed their pursuit of US President Donald Trump, issuing subpoenas relating to the probe of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and demanding copies of Trump’s income tax returns. Two House panels approved measures seeking evidence against Trump, setting up a showdown over normally secret grand jury materials and personal income tax returns.
WASHINGTON— Congressmen of the Democratic Party pressed their pursuit of US President Donald Trump as they approved subpoenas relating to the probe of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and demanded copies of Trump’s last six tax returns.
The House judiciary committee authorized a subpoena on Wednesday for the full Russia investigation report, setting up a constitutional showdown over normally secret grand jury materials.
Right to full Mueller report
“We are going to work with the attorney general [William Barr] for a short period of time in the hopes that he will reveal to us the entire report and the underlying materials,” said committee chair Jerry Nadler.
“But if that doesn’t work out, in a very short order we will issue the subpoenas,” he said.
Barr last week told Congress he would hand over a copy of the Mueller report by mid-April, but stripped of grand jury interviews, materials collected by intelligence sources and evidence related to other investigations and third parties.
Nadler, whose committee would preside over any impeachment proceedings against the president, said the committee had the right to see the entire 400-page report and all supporting evidence.
“We are not willing to let the attorney general, who after all is a political appointee of the president, substitute his judgement for ours.”
Democratic Rep. Richard Neal, chair of the House ways and means committee, also asked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to provide him copies of Trump’s tax returns over six years.
Mandatory examination
“Under the Internal Revenue Manual, individual income tax returns of a president are subject to mandatory examination, but this practice is IRS policy and not codified in the federal tax laws,” Neal wrote.
He told IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig to deliver the president’s individual income tax returns, as well as those from eight entities connected to Trump, by April 10.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said last month he would “follow the law” if Congress requested Trump’s tax returns.
Trump is the first president since Richard Nixon to refuse to release his returns.