Assignment to appear six years of Donald Trump tax returns

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Reuters

The chairman of a US congressional committee has issued subpoenas for the tax returns of President Donald Trump.

Richard Neal said in a statement that he "did not take this step lightly", but that he felt this gave the committee "the best opportunity" for obtaining the documents.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have until 5:00 pm (5:00 pm) May 17 to hand over six years of records.

The White House has so far refused requests for transmission of information.

Unlike previous presidents, Mr. Trump refused to disclose his tax details.

He repeatedly reiterated that he was audited by the IRS and that he therefore could not disclose them – although the IRS has stated that an audit does not disclose it – although the IRS has stated that an audit would not stop the disclosure of information.

Democrats are investigating Mr. Trump's business interests and potential conflicts of interest while he is president, as well as his past financial dealings.

In a New York Times article on Wednesday, Trump 's businesses lost more than $ 1 billion between 1985 and 1994.

The president said he had suffered losses "for tax purposes" and had attacked the newspaper for what he called "a highly false job on Fake News".

Trump's lawyer, William Consovoy, had previously called the tax filing request "harassment" and said the Treasury should not comply with the ruling.

And Republican Congressman Kevin Brady – a member of the same Ways and Means Committee chaired by Neal – sent a letter to his president on Friday asking him not to issue a subpoena.

Mr. Brady asserted that it would be an "attempt to manipulate the tax code and use the legitimate control authority of Congress for political purposes" .