Pelosi: Trump tax returns ‘one of the first things we’d do’ if Dems win House

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) on Wednesday said that if Democrats win back the House in November’s midterms, they will demand that President Trump hand over his tax returns.

Pelosi told The San Francisco Chronicle’s editorial board that forcing Trump to release his tax returns “is one of the first things we’d do” if Democrats control the Lower Chamber.

“That’s the easiest thing in the world. That’s nothing,” she said.

{mosads}Democrats have pledged previously to get their hands on Trump’s tax returns if they gain control of the House, with Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) arguing that the public deserves to know “whether or not a president is serving his interests or the public’s interests.”

Trump’s business holdings include stakes in more than 500 separate businesses spanning the globe, according to previous financial disclosures. 

Trump has said an ongoing IRS audit prevents the release of his personal taxes — an argument the IRS itself has refuted. He became the first president since Richard Nixon to refuse to disclose his tax history as a White House candidate.

A 1924 statute allows the chairs of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee and the Joint Committee on Taxation to access anyone’s tax returns — including the president’s. The returns can be shared with the full committees behind closed doors, and the panels could then vote to release all, or parts, of the returns to the public.

The New York Times released a bombshell report last week alleging that the president and his family had participated in “dubious” tax schemes that sometimes amounted to outright fraud.

Pelosi told The Chronicle’s editorial board that accessing Trump’s tax returns would simply represent Congress playing its oversight role of the president.

“We have to have the truth,” said Pelosi, who added during the interview that she expects to be Speaker if Democrats take control.

Pelosi also said during the interview that Democrats will seek to work with Trump, saying that they will need to find “common ground” to pass legislation.

“I, probably more than most people do, respect the office he serves in, probably more than he does,” she said. “But he is the president — we have to find our common ground. … We want to get results for the American people.”