Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that congressional Democrats will not get access to President Trump’s tax returns and have no right to demand them.
“Never. Nor should they. That’s an issue that was already litigated during the election. Voters knew the president could have given his tax returns. They knew that he didn’t and they elected him anyway,” Mulvaney told “Fox News Sunday” when asked when congressional Democrats would get Trump’s returns. The president has repeatedly refused to turn them them over, citing an ongoing Internal Revenue Service audit.
Last week, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., asked IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig to turn over six years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns.
Mulvaney said the Democrats were overreaching. “They know one of the fundamental principles of the IRS is to protect the confidentiality of you and me and everybody else who files taxes. They know that. They know the terms under law by which the IRS can give them the documents, but political hit job is not one of those reasons,” he said.
Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., disputed the idea that Democrats are engaged in a politically motivated campaign against Trump. “This is not political, as our Republican colleagues are making it out to be … no other president in modern time has had to have their tax returns requested under [Section 6103 of federal tax code] because they’ve all voluntarily shared them.”
