Key House Democratic chairman requests Trump's tax returns https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/03/politics/trump-tax-returns-house-democrats-request/index.html House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal has formally requested President Donald Trump's tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service, likely launching a battle with the administration that could stretch months or even years in the courts and could shed light on the President's finances. In a letter to the IRS sent Wednesday and first obtained by CNN, Neal cites a little known IRS code in his request for six years of Trump's personal tax returns from 2013 to 2018. He also requested the tax returns of eight of Trump's business entities, a nod to escalating pressure from liberals in the caucus who have argued that Trump's personal returns wouldn't sufficiently paint a picture of the President's financial history. While the move will largely be seen by Republicans as a political escalation, Neal explained in the letter the request is part of his oversight role. Neal wrote that the committee needed Trump's tax returns to consider legislation related to the IRS's practice of auditing sitting presidents. "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 in a letter to the IRS. "It is necessary for the committee to determine the scope of any such examination and whether it includes a review of underlying business activities required to be reported on the individual income tax return." In a statement to CNN, Neal stressed that the committee's request was about "policy, not politics." "My preparations were made on my own track and timeline, entirely independent of other activities in Congress and the administration," Neal said. "My actions reflect an abiding reverence for our democracy and our institutions, and are in no way based on emotion of the moment or partisanship. I trust that in this spirit, the IRS will comply with federal law and furnish me with the requested documents in a timely manner." Neal has given the IRS until April 10 to comply with the request. A months-long debate Neal's announcement follows a months-long debate within the Ways and Means Committee about how and when to issue the request for Trump's tax returns. Unlike other sensitive material Democratic chairmen have demanded from the Trump administration, the request for Trump's tax returns could only come from one Democrat on Capitol Hill. Under IRS code 6103, only the Joint Committee on Taxation, the House Ways and Means chairman and the Senate Finance Committee chairman have the authority to request the tax information of an individual. Given the Senate Finance Committee Chuck Grassley has long said requesting Trump's tax returns would be akin to weaponizing the tax-writing committee, the ask fell to Neal. But, behind the scenes, Neal was meticulous about the decision. Democrats believe the statute is clear. Under the code, it says "the secretary shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request." But, Neal, a pragmatic and judicious chairman more interested in working with the administration on shared priorities like infrastructure then launching a contentious, partisan fight that could define his tenure, proceeded cautiously. "I am certain we are within our legitimate legislative, legal and oversight rights," Neal said in his statement Wednesday. Liberals on the committee pressured Neal both publicly and behind closed doors. Rep. Bill Pascrell, a Democrat from New Jersey, announced at the beginning of March that Neal was going to request Trump's tax returns in two weeks only to backtrack hours later to clarify it was only his opinion, not official guidance. Democratic Rep. Llyod Doggett, a member of Ways and Means lamented that it was past time for Neal to make the request for days leading up to the request. Members also wanted Neal to expand any request to be not just personal returns, but also business returns. And in their sweeping ethics reform legislation H.R. 1, Democrats included a provision that would require presidential nominees and sitting President's to disclose 10 years of business returns. Ultimately, Neal requested information from eight of Trump's business entities including the Bedminster golf course LLC as well as the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, DJT Holdings LLC, DJT Holdings Managing Member LLC, DTTM Operations LLC, DTTM Operations Managing Member Cor, LFB Acquisition Member Corp, and LFB Acquisition LLC. In the early days of his chairmanship, Neal focused on building a relationship with members of the Trump administration including Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Even when Mnuchin refused to appear before his committee for a hearing on the impact of the government shutdown on the upcoming tax season, the two men continued to work in coordination. Neal told CNN in March that he'd spoken directly with the President about his goals for infrastructure. When Mnuchin did appear before his committee on March 14, Neal's opening statement reflected a chairman more interested in working with the administration on infrastructure and pension restoration than a liberal Democrat preparing to request the President's most closely-held personal documents related to his income and business practices over the last few years. Ultimately, Neal made his request to the Internal Revenue Service, not Treasury, which Mnuchin heads. During that committee hearing where Mnuchin testified, he signaled to the committee that he has not handled other 6103 requests in the past. When asked by a committee member about this, Mnuchin responded, "That is not something I would normally sign. It would be something that the IRS commissioner would sign off on." While Democratic chairmen across the Capitol want to see Trump's tax returns for their own investigations, Neal's formal request is specific and targeted: an investigation into a program that audits the taxes of sitting presidents. Under 6103, only Neal -- not the chairman of other committees-- will be provided the information. "The IRS has a policy of auditing the tax returns of all sitting presidents and vice presidents, yet little is known about the effectiveness of this program," Neal said in a statement.
And annual financial statements, too. Including a period of time after they left office. Trust disclosures and politician certifications would help as well.
Charlie KirkVerified account@charliekirk11 3h3 hours ago I’m much more interested in seeing the tax returns of politicians who became millionaires in office than a billionaire who became a politician 955 replies 10,149 retweets 27,151 likes
The constitution sets the requirements for being eligible to run for president. Producing your tax returns is not one of them. If people need to see all sorts of stuff and the candidate does not produce then you can use that to evaluate whether you want to vote for that person or not. Recognizing in advance that my view is probably a minority opinion here. If I want a friend, I will get a dog. Also, after the massive,massive abuse of IRS filings that we went through under Obama/Lois Lerner, there should be bipartisan opposition to using tax filings just to punish political opponents- which we are now well on our way to doing- again.
This is chicken shit but so is the reason given to pull the filings. Trump’s tax filings, all of them, need to be reviewed and aired out. Congress has every right to see what kind of business dealings the holder of the executive branch has. It’s called oversight and it’s the job of congress.
Feds Have Launched a Counterintelligence Investigation Into Foreign Government Targeting of Mar-a-Lago Federal authorities have launched a counterintelligence investigation focused on foreign government influence targeting President Donald Trump's Florida golf club, Mar-a-Lago. The investigation came to light and was ""turbo-charged," after news broke that a woman armed with two passports, four cell phones, a computer and other devices, and a malware loaded thumb-drive lied her way in to Mar-a-Lago. The Miami Herald, which broke the news of the federal counterintelligence probe, characterized it as a "never-before-reported investigation." The Chinese national, Yujing Zhang, was arrested on Saturday by U.S. Secret Service agents who tried to enter the club and claimed she wanted to go swimming in the Mar-a-Lago members-only pool. As the AP reported, she did not have a bathing suit. Investigators are attempting to determine if Zhang is associated with Cindy Yang, the former owner of massage parlors "who has promoted events at Mar-a-Lago with ads targeting Chinese business executives hoping to gain access to Trump and his family. "Now, The Herald adds, "investigators with the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force in South Florida are trying to figure out who Zhang is and whether she is involved in a possible Chinese intelligence mission and whether there are links to Yang’s social events at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.
Where "oversight" is defined as "coming up with some shit on your political opponent that the previous witch-hunter was not able to produce." The fact that Presidents, Congress, the Judiciary, the IRS, intel agencies, the FBI, the DOJ etc have rights that may be properly exercised as intended by the constitution and statutes does not mean that they always are, YA THINK? Sometimes they are exercised for raw political purposes. YA THINK, ON STEROIDS?
Trump should follow the Obama/Clinton precedent and stonewall any and all requests from the House. There is nothing they can do about it, other than shut down the government, which would be a good thing.