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White House acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, said in an exclusive interview with "Fox News Sunday" that Democrats would "never" see President Trump's tax returns. A few days after the House Democratic Committee chairman had launched an unprecedented request to the IRS.
Mulvaney's comments marked an apparent escalation in White House rhetoric on the issue. On Wednesday, Trump responded with a disdainful provocation to Democrats' renewed demand for him to provide tax information, but suggested that he be willing to provide this information pending the conclusion of an audit.
"Oh no, never – they should not either," Mulvaney told Bill Hemmer, who replaces host Chris Wallace, at Democrats' request to see the president's tax returns. "This is an issue that was already debated during the elections, the voters knew that the president could have given his tax returns, they knew it was not the case and they elected him anyway."
Mulvaney added that the Democrats "know" that they will not get back, and "just want to draw attention to the issue because they do not want to talk about politics." A "fundamental" objective of tax legislation, Mulvaney continued, is to protect the privacy of tax filers.
"If they do not get what they want in the Mueller report, they will ask for taxes," Mulvaney said. "If they do not get what they want in taxes, they will ask for something else. This does not surprise anyone."
Richard Neal, Chair of the House of Commons Committee on Ways and Means, D-Mass., Presents for a meeting of the Democratic Caucus at Capitol, Washington, on April 2, 2019. The Neal Representative, whose committee is competent for all tax matters, has formally asked President Donald Trump's tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service for the past 6 years. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite)
On Wednesday, a White House reporter told Trump that Democrats wanted six years of tax returns, but Trump did not rule out this possibility permanently.
"Is that all? Usually it's 10," Trump replied. "So, I guess they're giving in. We're under audit, despite what people have said, and we're working on it – I'm still under audit, it seems, but I've been under audit for many years." years, because the numbers are high, and I guess when you have a name, you're audited, but as long as I'm not audited, I would not be inclined to do it. "
One of the president's personal attorneys subsequently wrote a four-page energetic letter to the Treasury Department to oppose Democrats' request, saying it would create a "dangerous precedent."
WHAT HAS THE ATTORNEY LAWYER MADE IN THE LETTER OPPOSING THE DEMAND FOR RETURNS FROM TAX DEMS?
Wednesday's request from Massachusetts Representative Richard Neal, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, was the first such request for tax information from a 45-year-old chairperson. The movement has put in place an almost certain legal confrontation with the White House.
Neal made this request in a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, requesting Trump's personal and commercial statements from 2013 to 2018. Neal told Rettig that Democrats had a duty "to ensure that the Internal Revenue Service enforces laws in a fair and impartial manner. "
"It is essential to guarantee the responsibility of our government and our elected officials," said Neal in a statement, "to maintain confidence in our democracy, the American people must be assured that their government is working properly, as laws."
Neal specifically required federal income tax returns from eight entities, including the Trump-Bedminster National Golf Club, as well as statements clarifying whether the returns had already been audited. Neal also asked for all administrative files, including affidavits, related to each statement.
Also on Sunday, Dan Kildee, a member of the Ways and Means Committee's Ways and Means Committee, supported Neal's request.
"It is not up to President Trump to determine whether this identical branch of the government has the tools to carry out the necessary deliberations in order to define the policy to follow," Kildee told ABC News's "This Week."
Speaking later to Hemmer, Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., Said Trump had promised to release his tax returns during the 2016 presidential campaign.
"It's not political," insisted Luján.
The president's congressional allies showed immediate and fierce disapproval at Neal's request throughout the week. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, chairman of the Republican House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee, wrote to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to denounce what he called the "abuses" of Democrats over their authority. .
This provision of the tax legislation generally prohibits the disclosure of personal tax information.
Brady wrote that "if transparency in our government is extremely important," the "privacy and freedom" of all taxpayers is paramount – and that Congress should pass new disclosure laws when it sees a problem. Brady claimed that violating the privacy rights of a taxpayer "begins the process of erosion and threat of privacy rights of all taxpayers".
Mulvaney, on Sunday, echoed these concerns.
"They know that one of the fundamentals of the IRS is to protect the privacy of your life and that of all others who file taxes, they know it," Mulvaney said. "They know the terms of the law under which the IRS can provide them with the documents, but the big political success is not actually part of it."
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Moreover, Mulvaney said the Democrats were suffering from "Trump Derangement Syndrome" and had been "blinded" by the Robert Mueller Special Council's findings that the Trump team had not collaborated illegally with Russia.
Mulvaney also issued a critical note on the 2020 presidential field of democrats, telling Hemmer "that it's fun to watch them implode", and that the main party candidates seem to want to "Give back to America" new excuses "on a lot of topics.
And asked if Herman Cain was still looking for a position in the Federal Reserve despite accusations of sexual harassment against her for a long time, Mulvaney replied, "Yes, and I think Herman would be a great member of the Fed. "
Bill Hemmer, Mike Emanuel, Chad Pergram and Fox News Associated Press contributed to this report.
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