Iran Press/America: The US Treasury Department will not comply with a deadline set by Democratic legislators to hand over Donald Trump’s tax returns, the secretary of the treasury Steve Mnuchin announced on Wednesday, according to a report by The Guardian.
“The committee requests the materials by April 10, but the treasury department will not complete its review of your request by that date,” Mnuchin wrote in a letter to Ways and Means Committee chairman Richard Neal.
In his letter, Mnuchin cited concerns over “an abuse of authority” and wrote that the law cited in Neal’s request could not be used “for purposes of embarrassing or attacking political figures of another party”.
Emphasizing the political weight of the request, he added that the department is seeking counsel from the department of justice “to ensure that our response is fully consistent with the law and the Constitution”.
Trump has consistently refused requests by politicians, journalists, and others, stating his reason for not doing so is that the returns are under audit. Tax and legal experts have said, however, that an audit should not prevent their public release, practice presidents have followed for decades.
Democrats on the US House of Representatives’ tax committee want to review Trump’s returns chiefly as part of their investigations into possible conflicts of interest posed by his continued ownership of extensive business interests even as he serves the public as president.
Republicans oppose release of the returns, arguing that it would politicize tax data.
Mnuchin’s letter was supported by Congressman Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, who referred to his committee’s request for the returns as “political fishing expeditions”.
Trump has repeatedly refused to release the tax returns and has told reporters, despite the requests made by Congress, they would not become public. Last week, Mick Mulvaney, the president’s chief of staff vowed they would never get released.
On Tuesday, Mnuchin told lawmakers during a hearing, that his department’s lawyers had discussed the decision with White House counsel before the official request for the returns was made but did not seek “permission”, even though he had been told by Trump’s lawyers not to hand over the returns until the Justice Department weighed in. 211/103
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