House Democrats Can Now Access Trump's Tax Returns

Lawmaker says making them public is a possibility
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 30, 2022 5:35 PM CST
House Committee Can Now Access Trump's Tax Returns
Former President Donald Trump arrives to announce a third run for president at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022.   (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

House Democrats now have access to Donald Trump's tax returns—but they don't have control of the House for much longer. The Treasury Department confirmed Wednesday that it has "complied with last week's court decision," ABC reports. The Supreme Court ended a three-year legal battle last week when it rejected a request from the former president, clearing the way for the Treasury to release years of Trump's tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee. The committee, led by Democratic Rep. Richard Neal, had sought six years of Trump's tax returns from the IRS, which is part of the Treasury Department, CNN reports.

Neal said Wednesday that he was legally obligated not to disclose information about handling Trump's records. Rep. Bill Pascrell, another Democrat on the committee, said it "will make a deliberative decision by Jan. 3," when Republicans take control of the House, NBC reports. Pascrell, who started pushing for Trump's tax returns soon after Democrats took control of the House in early 2019, said the panel would consider making the returns public. Unlike other presidential candidates in recent history, Trump refused to make his tax returns public during his campaign or during his presidency.

After the Supreme Court decision last week, Neal said that "since the Magna Carta, the principle of oversight has been upheld, and today is no different," the AP reports. "This rises above politics, and the Committee will now conduct the oversight that we’ve sought for the last 3½ years." He said Wednesday that the "next step is to have a meeting of the Democratic caucus" to discuss how to proceed. (More Trump tax return stories.)

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