Tag: Trump tax returns

To Hide His Tax Returns, President Claims Monarchical Authority

Donald Trump’s desperate attempt to block a New York grand jury subpoena seeking his tax returns, which he once promised to publicly release, makes you wonder anew why he is so keen to prevent anyone from looking at those records, even in secret. But the case also raises the more momentous question of whether presidents have an unqualified right to quash such demands as long as they occupy the White House.

Trump’s view, as U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero summarized it last month, is that “the person who serves as President, while in office, enjoys absolute immunity from criminal process of any kind.” Marrero rejected that claim as “repugnant to the nation’s governmental structure and constitutional values.” And on Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit agreed.

The subpoena seeking Trump’s returns from his accounting firm is part of a probe by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who is investigating hush payments received by two women who say they had sexual relationships with the president before he was elected. Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney, is serving a prison sentence for federal crimes related to those payments, and Vance is reportedly curious about whether the scheme also violated a state law prohibiting falsification of business records.

View the complete November 10 article by Jacob Sullum on the National Memo website here.

Appeals court rejects Trump’s attempt to withhold tax returns from local prosecutors, setting stage for Supreme Court fight

Washington Post logoA federal appeals court on Monday unanimously rejected President Trump’s effort to block New York grand jury subpoenas for his tax records, setting up a possible Supreme Court showdown.

New York prosecutors are seeking eight years of Trump’s tax returns from his accounting firm in their investigation of hush-money payments made by Trump’s then-attorney Michael Cohen before the 2016 election.

Trump’s attorneys have argued that as president, Trump is immune not only from prosecution but from investigations. But in the decision, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that “any presidential immunity from a state criminal process does not bar the enforcement of such subpoena.”

View the complete November 4 article by Jonathan O’Connell and Ann E. Marimow on The Washington Post website here.

The Trump Secrets Hiding Inside Deutsche Bank

New York Times logoThe president’s longtime lender has extensive documents related to Mr. Trump’s personal and business finances. Here’s what they could reveal.

Deutsche Bank’s disclosure on Tuesday that it has tax returns related to President Trump’s family or business set off a frenzy of speculation about what those materials might reveal.

But a trove of other data and documents that his longtime lender is sitting on might prove more revelatory to investigators digging into Mr. Trump’s finances. That includes records of how Mr. Trump made his money, whom he has partnered with, the terms of his extensive borrowings and what transactions he has engaged in with Russians or other foreign nationals.

For nearly two decades, Deutsche Bank was the only mainstream financial institution consistently willing to do business with Mr. Trump, who had a long record of defaulting on loans. The bank over the years collected reams of his personal and corporate information.

View the complete August 28 article by David Enrich on The New York Times website here.

Trump offers to try again in lawsuit over New York tax returns

Attorneys for Donald Trump, a powerful House committee and New York state have reached agreement on a new path for handling their fight over the president’s state tax returns, according to a Wednesday court filing.

Under the deal, Trump’s lawyers will file a new amended lawsuit by Monday spelling out their case for why a temporary restraining order is needed to stop the Democrat-led House Ways and Means Committee from using a New York law that could give the panel access to the president’s state tax returns.

The joint stipulation agreement reached between the lawyers also spells out a new briefing schedule on Trump’s lawsuit, including a proposal for oral arguments in mid-September before U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols in Washington, D.C.

View the complete August 14 article by Darren Samuelsohn on the Politico website here.

Justice releases legal opinion backing Treasury’s refusal to release Trump tax returns

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday released a legal opinion backing up the Treasury Department’s decision to reject a request by congressional Democrats for six years of President Trump‘s tax returns.

“While the Executive Branch should accord due deference and respect to congressional requests, Treasury was not obliged to accept the Committee’s stated purpose without question, and based on all the facts and circumstances, we agreed that the Committee lacked a legitimate legislative purpose for its request,” Steven Engel, an assistant attorney general in DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel, said in the 33-page opinion.

The opinion comes after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last month rejected a subpoena from House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) demanding Trump’s personal and business tax returns from 2013 through 2018.

View the complete June 14 article by Naomi Jagoda on The Hill website here.

To Conceal Trump Taxes, Mnuchin Cites Non-Existent Legal Memo

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is continuing to defy a request from Congress, first issued in April, to provide Trump’s tax returns.

On Tuesday, Justin Sok, senior adviser for Treasury’s Office of Legislative Affairs, insisted that Mnuchin was justified in his stonewalling because of supposed legal advice from the Department of Justice that doesn’t even exist in writing yet — and no one knows when it ever will.

“The Department of Justice intends to memorialize its advice in a published legal opinion as soon as its practicable,” Sok wrote in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. “We will provide a copy of the opinion to you when we receive it.”

View the complete May 31 article by Oliver Willis on the National Memo website here.

Trump feels squeeze in tax return fight

President Trump is being squeezed in the fight over his tax returns.

House Democrats are expected to initiate a court case in the near future to obtain the documents. And a series of recent developments may not bode well for Trump’s efforts to keep lawmakers from seeing his returns.

“It’s unavoidable that he can’t hide from this anymore, no matter how hard he tries,” said Maura Quint, executive director of Tax March, which supports the efforts to obtain Trump’s returns.

Democrats see several actions that took place last week as positive signs for their efforts.

View the complete May 27 article by Naomi Jagoda on The Hill website here.

Mnuchin tells senators under oath that he hasn’t taken ‘any direction’ from White House on blocking Trump’s tax returns

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin insisted on Wednesday that he had not taken “any direction” from the White House when deciding to buck the law and refuse to release President Donald Trump’s tax returns to Congress.

“This has historically been a function delegated to the IRS commissioner,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) noted. “Was there a reason you didn’t trust the IRS Commissioner to handle this? Was there a meeting between IRS and Treasury leaders directing the IRS to stand aside or stand down on this?”

“And have you discussed Chairman Neal’s request with the president or anyone in the White House? Did you get any direction on how to handle this matter from the president?” Coons asked.

View the complete May 15 article by David Edwards of Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

The case for treating Trump’s tax returns like he treated Obama’s birth certificate

“Donald Trump, with his loud and reckless innuendos, was putting my family’s safety at risk. And for this I’d never forgive him” — Michelle Obama

That’s what Michelle Obama said about Individual 1’s leading role in spreading the racist falsehood known as birtherism: the lie about President Obama’s birthplace that sought to inflame hatred and to ‘other’ the man who, unlike Trump, actually won the presidency with a popular vote majority—twice. As I’ve written elsewhere, Trump managed to go from birther-in-chief to commander-in-chief.

As birther-in-chief, Trump set a standard, if one can call it that, for what passed as truth and fact. It seems appropriate that we apply that same standard to him, now that he is facing questions regarding his tax returns and financial records. These are far more substantive questions deriving from a significantly firmer foundation of evidence than the wild rumors he spewed regarding where Barack Obama was born. You’ve probably heard the old saying about the goose and the gander. Let’s hope the American people eventually get to see those financial documents, and that they thoroughly cook Trump’s goose.

In that spirit, I’d like to repurpose some of the birther remarks made by America’s biggest tax loser, and apply them to his own attempts to prevent the release of his tax returns and other financial records. Let’s see how Trump’s own words make him look.

View the complete May 12 article by Ian Riefowitz of the Daily Kos on the AlterNet website here.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig subpoenaed over Trump tax returns

House Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal makes announcement Friday

House Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal announced Friday he had issued subpoenas to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig to provide President Donald Trump’s tax returns.

The Massachusetts Democrat first asked for six years of Trump’s tax returns and six years of returns from eight of the president’s businesses in an April 3 letter to Rettig. Mnuchin, who oversees the IRS, responded that he was considering the request while making arguments as to why Neal was not entitled to the documents.

Neal rejected those arguments in an April 13 letter, and on May 6, Mnuchin formally rejected the Massachusetts Democrat’s request.

View the complete May 10 article by Doug Sword on The Roll Call website here.