Statement on Trump Defying Law, Hiding Tax Returns: President Trump is Not Above the Law

Statement

Today, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) released the following statement reacting to an order from a U.S. District Court in Manhattan this morning that President Trump is not above the law when it comes to furnishing his tax returns:

"Like Al Capone may have thought before heading to jail for tax evasion, the President claimed that law enforcement examination of his tax returns would cause him "irreparable harm.' As a would-be autocrat, he also claimed immunity from any investigation as well as indictment. Fortunately, the Court soundly rejected his claims that he was above the law. Obtaining his tax returns remains vital to determining whether he has imperiled the tax system as much as he has imperiled our democracy.

"With his lawyers already having stayed today's court ruling, Trump's chief legal strategy remains delay and more delay. Since the separate federal judge considering the House request for return access has already refused to expedite that case because of its belated House filing, our best hope of getting any access to any tax returns may well be the more limited information available through the Trump-initiated Deutsch Bank case, which has been argued and is awaiting decision in the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

"As to the IRS whistleblower complaint regarding possible political interference on Trump returns, I have been concerned about political manipulation since I questioned Secretary Mnuchin in March. He said he would "protect the president,' if he received a request for the President's tax returns. Sure enough, when he didn't like the conclusion of the IRS's own lawyers that "shall' means "shall,' he consulted the White House and sought a different opinion from the office of Trump's taxpayer-funded personal attorney, William Barr. Like Barr, Mnuchin has done an outstanding job as a coverup artist. It's unclear whether he ever even referred the whistleblower complaint to the Inspector General, as he claimed to have done two months ago, since apparently the IG has only just begun a belated investigation. Whistleblowers and investigative journalism have been key to exposing wrongdoing. Now Congress must act to preserve our democracy."

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