Business

Dems press Mnuchin on Trump tax returns

by Niv Elis - 03/14/19 12:09 PM ET

House Democrats on Thursday pressed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on whether he would comply with a request to turn over President Trump’s tax returns, a long-sought goal of congressional Democrats.

“Are you willing to provide and fulfill the command of the statute, and your mandatory duty to properly release any personal and business tax returns for President Trump that you’re requested to provide,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) asked Mnuchin during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing.

{mosads}Mnuchin responded by saying he would first consult with legal counsel at the Treasury Department.

“The answer is, if I receive a request, which I presume from what I’ve read in the press I will receive, I will consult with the legal department within Treasury and I will follow the law,” he said.

Democrats cited section 6103 of the tax code, which instructs the Treasury secretary to turn over any tax returns requested by the chair of the Ways and Means Committee. The provision also allows for the heads of the Senate Finance Committee and Joint Committee on Taxation to request the documents.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) has faced pressure from progressives to request the returns but has yet to formally start the process.

Mnuchin testified that Trump has not asked him to intervene if Congress requests his tax returns, and said he had not discussed the issue with anyone at the White House, including Trump’s attorneys.

But Mnuchin raised questions about whether turning over the returns might violate the president’s privacy, previewing a possible reason to refuse the request.

“I’m not aware if there’s ever been a request for an elected official’s tax return, but we will follow the law and we would protect the president as we would protect any individual taxpayer under their rights,” he said.

Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-Texas) echoed that perspective, saying his constituents “do not want to go to bed at night thinking that there might be some possibility that the IRS or the Treasury could view that tax return or make that tax return public to anybody.”

Trump broke tradition in 2016 when he became the first presidential nominee in decades not to release his tax returns.

Democrats hope that unearthing the president’s returns might expose conflicts of interest or how he ran his business, or perhaps embarrass the president if the documents show his wealth is less than he has indicated.

Democrats on Thursday took the opportunity to pressure Mnuchin to comply with the request if he receives it.

Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) asked if such a request had ever been denied, saying that in 2017 there had been 151 million such disclosures.

Mnuchin responded that the figures referred to sharing tax information within the government and with states.

“This is a bulk issue. This is different from what I read about in the press,” he said.

Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) pointed to a statute that makes concealing data from a congressional inquiry a fireable offense for IRS employees, and asked Mnuchin if it applied to his agency’s staff.

“Should this apply to Treasury employees as well?” she asked.

Mnuchin demurred, saying he wouldn’t engage with hypothetical situations.

“There’s an awful lot of interest in 6103,” he said.

Tags Donald Trump Jimmy Gomez Kenny Marchant Linda Sanchez Lloyd Doggett Richard Neal Steven Mnuchin