The IRS faces a second deadline for the release of Trump tax returns to Democrats

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The Massachusetts Democrat said defying his claim – as the IRS expects – would be interpreted as a breach of obligations and would lead to an escalation of the administration's confrontation with House Democrats on the issues. President's financial statements.

"It's not the function of the IRS, the Treasury or Justice to question or guess the motives of the committee or its reasonable decisions regarding its need for requested tax returns and information from back requested, "wrote Neal to Commissioner Charles Rettig. "Please, know that if you do not comply, your failure will be interpreted as a refusal of my request."

But Rettig said at a recent hearing that Mnuchin was his boss and that he had made it clear that he had no plans to hand over documents in the near future.

Mnuchin told reporters earlier this month that it would be "premature" to conclude how long the agency's review with the Department of Justice could take into account the complexity of legal issues. He also called Tuesday's "arbitrary" deadline.

"I will not prematurely commit to knowing whether we will be able to conclude our legal review in a timely manner or not," said Mnuchin at CNN's request. "Obviously, given the importance of this issue, people are diligently dealing with this issue, but I reiterate that this decision has a great precedent for potentially arming IRS. "

The president's personal attorney, William Consovoy, sent two letters to the Treasury Department urging them not to give in, complaining that Neal had exceeded the limits of his legal authority under Congress.

Consovoy also sued on Monday for Trump and his family-run Trump Organization to block a separate request from the House's oversight committee, chaired by Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings, to seek assurances. Several decades of financial documents from Mazars accounting firm Trump.

Trump has broken decades of presidential precedence with his refusal to disclose his tax returns, first as a candidate and since taking office. He has also maintained his involvement in his family owned real estate business, now overseen by his adult sons, Don Jr. and Eric Trump, on a daily basis, challenging to violate the constitutional ban on presidents accepting gifts or gifts. money from abroad. governments or US state entities.

Democrats cite obscure status

Since he took control of the House in January, Neal has spearheaded the Democratic Party's efforts to obtain Trump's tax returns using an obscure law created following the Tomeot Dome's corruption scandal under the President Warren G. Harding.

Democrats firmly believe that Neal has the power, under IRS code 6103, to request tax information from anyone, including Trump. The law stipulates that three persons – the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee and the Chief of Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation – have the power to request tax information in order to carry out their own legislative and that the Treasury Secretary "will provide" the information.

The statute had already been used by Congress and had already been used in a high profile case when Congress had investigated to determine whether the IRS was discriminating against conservative groups seeking the status of the state. 39, a non-profit organization. Requests for information through 6103 are also routinely made by YCW for research purposes.

Neal says he needs Trump taxes to oversee the IRS's presidential audit program, both to understand how the IRS uses this program and to see if the program must be codified in the law.

Trump's lawyer argued that Neal was only using the presidential audit program as a pretext to embarrass the president and make Trump's private information public.

"The Congress has no constitutional authority to act as a junior IRS, re-executing individual exams or closely monitoring the agency's calculations," Consovoy wrote to the Treasury last week.

A long legal battle is expected

The refusal of the request by the administration should trigger a long legal battle over the law 6103, which has never been examined by the courts. The fight will also be a rare example of Congress suing the executive power in court for information, and could last for months or even years.

The most recent example is that of the scandal "Fast and Furious", which was named for a gun surveillance program of the Obama era overseen by the Bureau of Alcohol, Drug and Alcohol. tobacco, firearms and explosives, which left a border patrol officer named Brian Terry.

In 2012, the House voted in contempt of Attorney General Eric Holder at the time, and the House Oversight Committee sued the Obama administration for court-related information about the program, but this It is only in 2014 that the court ruled that the administration had to yield on additional documents. Nevertheless, the quarrels over the documents continue today.

Donna Borak from CNN contributed to this report.

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