In the President’s latest attempt to throw everything against the wall and see what sticks in his war against Congressional oversight of any form, President Trump is seeking an emergency, immediate court order from a D.C. federal judge to prevent Congress from obtaining his tax information, according to a Wednesday court filing.
One day after suing the House Ways and Means Committee along with two New York State officials to block them from carrying out a recently passed Empire State law that would allow Congress to request Trump’s state returns, the President filed an emergency motion for a writ that would block the House panel from requesting the records before the court had a chance to review the issue.
“The President is in an intolerable situation: If he seeks relief after the Chairman requests his state tax returns, the returns might be disclosed before he can be heard in court,” wrote Trump personal attorney William Consovoy. “At the same time, immediate judicial review could force the Court to prematurely decide constitutional issues that might otherwise be avoided.”
Through Consovoy, Trump is demanding that Judge Trevor McFadden — appointed by the current President — issue an emergency order requiring House Ways and Means “to notify the Court if” Committee chair Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) “intends to request the President’s state tax returns from New York.” As per the proposed order, the two sides would then hash out the legality of the request in court “until the President can obtain judicial review.”
Trump is the first president since Gerald Ford not to disclose his tax returns. Neal requested six years of his personal and business returns in April, but Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin rejected the request. After Mnuchin denied a follow-up subpoena for the records, the House sued in July.
In the Wednesday court filing, Trump wrote that Neal has been lambasted for his “insufficient ‘zeal for oversight'” as a result of allegedly slow-walking the tax return request. As chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Neal is the sole Democrat in Congress empowered to request and receive the returns under the tax code.
“In the face of all these pressures, Chairman Neal recently change his stance toward the [New York State law]. (sic)” the filing reads.
Read the filing here:
