Tax returns, Barr subpoena fuel clash
WASHINGTON >> The Trump administration ruled out turning over President Donald Trump’s tax returns to the House on Monday and girded for a looming contempt of Congress resolution against Attorney General William P. Barr.
The actions ratcheted up the showdown between the executive and legislative branches, as Trump and his administration continued to resist the Democrats’ oversight efforts on multiple fronts.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., that he would not grant access to six years of personal and business tax returns. He said the demand “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose,” a view that Democrats are almost certain to contest in court.
The Democrats were already moving against Barr. The House Judiciary Committee announced a vote for Wednesday that would recommend that the House hold Barr in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena for Robert Mueller’s full report and evidence. However, by Monday evening the Justice Department had agreed to a stafflevel meeting on Tuesday to try to stave off that possibility.
While the White House and Democrats were jousting in Washington, in New York, Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael D. Cohen reported to federal prison.
“On a day when his former fixer heads to jail and his current fixer heads the Department of Justice, President Trump obstructs both Mueller and his tax returns from speaking for themselves,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, a Ways and Means Committee member. He added, “If Trump once again faces only Republican silence and Democratic timidity, he will continue to erode our democracy by assuming more and more power.”
Democrats for years have clamored for Trump’s tax returns, which they say could show misdeeds and tax evasions. Neal settled on a rationale that he needs them to evaluate the Internal Revenue Service’s practice of auditing sitting presidents and vice presidents.
But Mnuchin said that was not good enough.
“As you have recognized, the committee’s request is unprecedented, and it presents serious constitutional questions, the resolution of which may have lasting consequences for all taxpayers,” Mnuchin wrote in the one-page letter to Neal. Mnuchin twice delayed giving Neal a formal response to the request.
Even before Mnuchin’s letter, tensions were rising after the Justice Department disregarded a series of deadlines to hand over material from Mueller, the special counsel, that Democrats insisted was central to the House’s ability to fully investigate and evaluate the president’s behavior detailed in Mueller’s report.
At the same time, the Judiciary Committee was preparing to raise the pressure on Donald McGahn, a former White House counsel and chief witness in the special counsel investigation, if he misses a Tuesday deadline to hand over key documents that the White House says are subject to executive privilege.
Barr, who refused to testify last week before the Judiciary Committee because of a dispute over format, has earned special ire, serving as a kind of surrogate punching bag for Democrats frustrated with Trump but leery of impeachment. If the full House follows suit and votes to hold Barr in contempt, it would be only the second time that the nation’s top law enforcement officer has been penalized by lawmakers in that way.