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A clash between the Trump administration and congressional Democrats over President Donald Trump's tax returns is likely to be long and awaited, after government officials have repeatedly flouted a federal law giving Congress access to tax information.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday refused to comply with a Congressional summons requiring six years of President's tax returns, the fourth time the Treasury Department has refused to act on this request from the US Treasury. Democratic legislators.
Mnuchin announced his decision in a letter to Richard Neal (D-MA), chairman of the Chamber of Deputies Ways and Means Committee, minutes before 5 pm HE deadline for delivery of tax documents. In the letter, Mnuchin wrote that the Treasury Department is not "authorized" to disclose Trump's tax returns because Congressional demand for the documents "has no legitimate legislative purpose".
Neal responded by pointing out that "because of the 1924 law stipulating that the IRS is supposed to hand over tax-related documents to congressional committees charged with drafting tax laws, the department can not not make that decision.
"The law, by its terms, leaves no discretion as to the desirability of following up on a return and income tax return application," he wrote.
Neal opened Trump's tax return investigation more than a month ago.
Neal first asked Mnuchin to give him the tax documents by April 10th. When Mnuchin did not respect this deadline, he set a new deadline to April 23. would make a decision on May 6. Then, on May 6, Mnuchin announced that he had decided not to respond to the request. Neal responded on May 10 with a subpoena.
We do not know what will happen next. Neal previously indicated that he was considering bringing the case to court. Speaking with reporters Friday at 5:00 pm Neal said that if the administration refused to comply with the subpoena, "the result will be that we will probably go to court as quickly as next week. "
Once the time was up, Neal issued a new statement in which he stated that he "was consulting on the best way to enforce the subpoenas for the future".
A court case could take months or even years – creating a situation in which the problem could not be solved before Trump left.
Some Democratic legislators of the Committee of Ways and Means have lobbied to exercise their power in Congress to force compliance by other means, such as the imposition of fines or a penalty imprisonment for public servants who ignore their subpoenas.
We will see them in federal court, and we will do everything in our power to bring this lawless administration into compliance with our Constitution. It is now a constitutional crisis.
– Bill Pascrell, Jr. (@BillPascrell) May 17, 2019
Representative Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-NJ) told The New York Times on Friday that the committee should not rely solely on the justice system to solve the problem, which he says is going to "absent the Congress from their own responsibilities. "
"I think it's a very dangerous position for us," he said.
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