Status: 01.12.2022 04:05 a.m
After a lengthy legal tug of war, the US Treasury Department has handed over ex-President Trump’s tax documents to a congressional committee. Trump previously lost in the Supreme Court.
The US Treasury Department says it has handed over tax returns from ex-President Donald Trump to a congressional committee on an order from the Supreme Court.
The ministry declined to say whether the Treasury and Budget Committee in the House of Representatives has accessed the documents.
Trump’s former Treasury Secretary blocked release
After a three-year legal battle, the Supreme Court last week rejected a request by Trump to stop the Treasury Department from turning over its tax returns and those of some of its companies for a six-year period to the House Ways and Means Committee.
Trump’s then Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin withheld the documents from the tax, finance and budget committee, arguing that the Democrats had requested them for partisan reasons. Thus began the legal battle.
Courts: Examination of tax returns legal
After President Joe Biden took office, the committee resubmitted its request, requesting Trump’s tax returns and additional information for the 2015-2020 period. The White House said the request was reasonable. After all, federal law states that the committee has a clear right to review tax returns of any taxpayer. A president is no exception to this.
Lower courts had already rejected Trump’s argument that the congressional committee was exceeding its powers and was only requesting the documents for publication. Trump then went all the way to the Supreme Court, which, after a review lasting several weeks, dismissed him last week.