Trump’s legal team attempts to block tax records subpoena
President Donald Trump's legal team wants to block requests from House Democrats
President Donald Trump‘s legal team has moved to block a subpoena that would reveal the president’s personal financial records and tax information.
According to the Washington Post, the case is back before the U.S. Court of Appeals for a more detailed review of Congress’s request to access Trump’s financial records held by his accounting firm. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform is seeking eight years of the president’s information according to the report, saying there are financial disclosure and conflict of interest laws to amend.
Read More: Trump $70K tax deduction for ‘Apprentice’ hairstyling is likely illegal
Douglas Letter, general counsel for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Trump is the “first President in modern history to refuse to fully disclose or divest from his business holdings upon assuming the Presidency. His ongoing financial interests create the risk that his decision-making as President may be influenced by private financial considerations,” according to the Post.
Trump’s lawyers hope the subpoena is invalid and question the true motives behind the quest for information. According to lawyer Cameron T. Norris, the desire to amend financial disclosure laws “cannot justify the ‘significant step’ of subpoenaing the president’s papers,” the Washington Post reported.
The Post reported the three-judge panel reviewing the case previously sided with Congress in a 2-1 split.
Over the summer, the tax returns of Donald Trump became national news. Since then, there have been separate investigation into Trump’s business practices, hush-money payments, and possible fraud lead by District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., which resulted in the subpoena for the tax returns from the president’s accounting firm.
theGrio previously reported Judge Victor Marrero of Federal District Court in Manhattan rejected Trump’s attempt to block the district attorney from obtaining his records.
“No citizen, not even the president, is categorically above the common duty to produce evidence when called upon in a criminal proceeding,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote according to the report.
Read More: Trump taxes reveal $21 million windfall during 2016 race
In the big reveal, published by the New York Times, Trump’s taxes show that the president only paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the election and during his first year in the White House, he paid another $750. He also paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years.
Richard Neal, D-Mass., the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee said the report by the Times made it more likely for his committee to obtain the documents according to theGrio.
“It appears that the President has gamed the tax code to his advantage and used legal fights to delay or avoid paying what he owes,” Neal wrote according to the report. “Now, Donald Trump is the boss of the agency he considers an adversary. It is essential that the IRS’s presidential audit program remain free of interference.”
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