Former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyers say New York state does not have the authority to turn over his tax returns to a congressional investigation because he is no longer president.
They laid out their argument in documents submitted to a federal court in Washington on Monday, saying that the relevant New York tax law no longer applied.
It is the latest twist as Trump battles efforts by the House Ways and Means Committee to obtain his financial records.
In the filing, Trump’s legal team says that the Trust Act, which allows the state to share the president’s tax documents with Congress, does not apply.
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“Specifically, the court should hold that the Trust Act no longer authorizes the disclosure of plaintiff’s tax information because plaintiff is no longer ‘the president of the United States,’” his lawyers wrote.
The case is one of several that loom over Trump’s post-White House life.
The House Ways and Means Committee filed a case in Washington district court in 2019 against the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service seeking the president’s tax returns covering the years 2013 to 2019.
It was aimed at trying to work out whether the IRS was properly auditing Trump.
Trump has closely guarded his financial records amid claims and counterclaims about his wealth, the success of his business, and whether he paid enough tax.
In February, his tax returns were delivered to New York prosecutors after the Supreme Court ruled a case against him. For the time being, they are subject to grand jury secrecy rules that prevent their publication.
Meanwhile, Trump sued the New York attorney general’s office and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance to prevent them from handing his returns to Congress. The Washington court dismissed that case but allowed Trump to continue his action against the House committee.
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“The committee is still pursuing plaintiff’s financial information, the committee won’t concede that the Trust Act is limited to current presidents, the committee won’t promise not to invoke the Trust Act against plaintiff, and the committee won’t agree to give plaintiff advance notice before it invokes the Trust Act,” his lawyers wrote in their filing.
