Dems push for House vote on releasing Trump’s tax returns

Democrats revived a procedural tactic Tuesday night to force a House floor vote on a resolution demanding President Trump provide Congress with his tax returns from the past decade.

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) offered a resolution on the floor that would direct the House committee with jurisdiction over the tax code to request Trump’s tax returns. Republicans didn’t offer a ruling on the resolution Tuesday night, but under House rules it’s expected to get a floor vote within the next two days.

“[D]isclosure of the President’s tax returns could help those investigating Russian influence in the 2016 election understand the President’s financial ties to the Russian Federation and Russian citizens,” the resolution states.

{mosads}

Democrats had triggered weekly floor votes on near-identical resolutions six times from late February through early April. Pascrell’s latest measure is expected to similarly fail along party lines.

They brought it up again on Tuesday in response to Trump firing James Comey as director of the FBI last week. 

Since then, Trump has become embroiled by more crises this week after The Washington Post reported he had shared highly classified information with Russian government officials in the Oval Office last week.

The information about the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which reports revealed came from Israel, had not even been shared with U.S. allies, according to the report.

Regarding Comey’s firing, the White House last week initially cited a memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein faulting Comey for his handling of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of State to justify his ouster.

But then Trump, in an interview with NBC News two days later, said that he wanted to fire Comey “regardless of recommendation.” He also acknowledged federal probes into whether his campaign had contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump told NBC about his decision to fire Comey, “When I decided to just do it, I said to myself – I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story. It’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.”

Then on Tuesday, The New York Times reported that a memo authored by Comey recounted Trump asking him to end the federal investigation into Michael Flynn, who was ousted as national security adviser after it was revealed he had misled Vice President Pence and senior White House officials about his communications with the Russian ambassador.

Beyond all the controversy, Democrats are pushing for Trump’s tax returns in relation to the Russia probe.

The House Ways and Means Committee, Senate Finance Committee and Joint Committee on Taxation all have the authority to request individual tax returns from the Treasury Department and review them in closed session.

In an interview with the Economist this month, Trump claimed that “nobody cares about my tax return except for the reporters.” Trump added he “might release them after I’m out of office.”

Trump broke with four decades of precedent by refusing to release his tax returns while campaigning for the White House last year.

Trump has long maintained he won’t releasing his tax returns because of an ongoing IRS audit, though many have noted that individuals under audit can still choose to make their tax returns public.

Trump’s lawyers said last week that his income tax returns don’t show income from Russian sources or debt owed to Russians, with the exceptions of $95 million paid by a Russian billionaire for a Florida estate and $12.2 million related to holding the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in 2013.

CNN reported last week that Senate investigators probing Russia’s role in the 2016 election have also asked the Treasury Department’s criminal investigation division for information regarding Trump and top associates.