Ministry of Justice issues memo supporting Mnuchin's refusal to forward Trump's tax returns to Congress



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The Justice Ministry released Friday its legal justification for refusing to provide President Trump's income tax returns to Congress, saying the House Democrats wanted to make the documents public, which "is not a legitimate legislative objective. ".

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin refused to release the documents early last month, writing in a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.), Stating that the commission's request was "unprecedented" and could "have lasting consequences for all taxpayers. After obtaining legal advice from the Department of Justice, Mnuchin said that he had decided to reject the application.

Representative Don Beyer (D-Va.), Who serves on the committee, challenged the notion that legislators used a "pre-textual" basis – or dubious justification – for requiring material.

Here's what's actually "pre-textual" – the president ordering a cabinet secretary to disregard the law to protect him, the secretary usurping the IRS commissioner's legal responsibilities to do so, and the COL presenting these fragile and fictitious excuses that have won ". t stand in front of the court, "he wrote on Twitter.

Legal analysts said Mnuchin's decision was very unusual, given the wording of the law governing the case, and some Democrats in the House said that they intended to take legal action to bring a court to court. A confidential legal memorandum from the Internal Revenue Service obtained by the Washington Post indicates that tax returns must be handed to Congress – unless the president claims the privilege of executive power., what he did not do in this case.

The brawl around the president's tax files is one of many ongoing battles between Congressional Democrats and the White House over access to documents and witnesses, cases that seem likely to lead to courts.

The administration fought hard against Congress demands regarding Trump's financial statement. Trump filed a lawsuit to prevent the House's oversight committee from obtaining the documents from its accounting firm, although a federal judge ruled last month against the president. The case is on appeal.

Trump's tax note is partly written in anticipation of the expected court battles, and its author, Attorney General Steven A. Engel, suggested at one point that judges be reluctant to intervene in such cases. disputes.

"Separated from the democratic process, federal courts are not able to guess the action of political powers by scrutinizing their motives," said Engel in a 33-page memo. "These same limitations do not apply to the executive branch, which functions as a politically responsible control of the legislature."

The Ways and Means Committee seeks Trump's tax returns and other commercial information from 2013 to 2018, based on a law that states that the Treasury Department will "provide" information on tax returns. tax on "written request" from the chairman of this group. The committee issued subpoenas for the cases last month.

Personal income tax returns are among the best kept secrets in the US government, in part because of a 1976 Nixon Administration Abuse Law, in which tax returns were used. for political purposes.

The Justice Department's view is that the committee's request is only a partisan policy, which has been postponed by Trump's refusal in the 2016 presidential campaign to release his tax returns. For decades, leading presidential candidates have released their tax returns.

The memo quoted statements made by leading Democrats during the campaign and after Trump became president, claiming that Democrats were trying to violate important boundaries between the executive and the legislature to gain political gain in the short run. term.

"The President's request that the Treasury hand over the President's tax returns, with the apparent purpose of making them public, amounted to an unprecedented use of the Committee's authority and posed a serious risk of abuse" , wrote Engel in the memo dated Thursday. . "Congress can not, constitutionally, confer the right to require disclosure by the executive branch of confidential information that does not serve a legitimate legislative purpose."

Engel said that although the executive branch "should show the requisite restraint and respect for congressional demands", it does not need to treat them "as indisputable".

Engel wrote that the President "is at the head of a branch of government with equal powers and that he is responsible separately to the people for the faithful performance of his responsibilities. The Treasury therefore has the responsibility to ensure that the request of the President serves a legitimate legislative purpose. "

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