Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Congress on Wednesday that the IRS would not meet a congressional deadline to provide President Trump’s tax returns for review.
Instead, Mnuchin said he would consult with the Department of Justice over the request. Last week, President Trump’s personal attorneys asked the IRS to consult with Justice before deciding whether to cooperate with a congressional inquiry into the president’s tax returns.
Mnuchin did not deny the request outright in the response sent on Wednesday, but expressed multiple concerns in a letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., posted by Treasury spokesperson Tony Sayegh on Twitter. Neal had requested a response from the IRS by today.
“The Committee’s request raises serious issues concerning the constitutional scope of Congressional investigative authority, the legitimacy of the asserted legislative purpose, and the constitutional rights of American citizens,” wrote Mnuchin.
Mnuchin has said multiple times that he will “follow the law” with regards to the request for six years of Trump’s personal returns, as well as returns for some of his businesses, but has not said whether that means he will provide the information. The treasury secretary has deferred to the IRS commissioner in past requests that Congress has made under the authority, but Mnuchin cited the “unprecedented nature” of a request for the president’s tax returns in his response to Congress.
“The Department respects Congressional oversight, and we intend to review your request carefully,” Mnuchin said. He did not say when he planned to give Congress a definitive response.
In an emailed statement, Neal said he would “consult with counsel and determine the appropriate response to the [IRS] commissioner in the coming days.”
“I received a letter this evening from Secretary Mnuchin related to my request to the IRS commissioner,” Neal said. “The department has decided not to allow the IRS to comply with my request by the April 10 deadline.”
Neal requested the returns under a law that grants him power to review tax returns as part of legislative oversight. Mnuchin’s response could set the stage for a prolonged court battle over the interpretation of the law that Neal cited in his request, which says, “Upon written request from the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives … the [Treasury] Secretary shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request.”
Congressional Republicans praised Mnuchin’s decision.
“Americans didn’t elect their members of Congress to go to Washington to try to dig up harmful information on their political opponents,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in a statement. “It should be alarming to every American that there are attempts by elected officials to weaponize the IRS for partisan political purposes.”
Both Grassley and Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, the top Republican on Neal’s committee, echoed Mnuchin in labeling the request “unprecedented.”
Democrats will likely argue that Mnuchin is making a political decision, rather than a legal one, and that the IRS should provide the returns.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, told the Washington Examiner in a brief interview he was concerned that IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said the decision to cooperate was up to the Treasury Department and not him when he testified before the panel earlier on Wednesday.
“In response to the committee’s questions in his confirmation hearing … he said I’m going to be independent, I’m going to be independent in my views,” Wyden said. “[O]n this question where I said you and you alone have the authority … he basically said I’m being supervised by the Treasury Department.”
Trump repeated Wednesday that he does not plan to voluntarily release his tax returns, as past presidents have done.
