Former president Trump will keep fighting a House bid to get his tax returns, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“There is no evidence of any wrongdoing here and I object to the release of the returns not only on behalf of my client but on behalf of all future holders of the office of the president of the United States,” Trump lawyer Ronald Fischetti told the paper.
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion last week saying that a request from the House Ways and Means Committee for the former president’s taxes was legitimate.
That replaced an earlier opinion by the Trump DOJ, and opened the door to the IRS finally acceding to the request, more than two years after Ways and Means chair Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) first issued it in March 2019.
But a judge presiding over ongoing litigation between Neal’s Committee, Trump, and the IRS which began in summer 2019 left an order in place mandating that the IRS give Trump 72 hours notice before furnishing the tax records to the House.
The tax returns are unlikely to be handed over until that case is resolved.
“What’s changed?” Mr. Fischetti told the Journal. “This has been ongoing for years.”
Read the report here.
