Democrats still seeking Trump tax returns

WASHINGTON—House Democrats are continuing to push for the release of President Donald Trump’s tax returns and financial records. On Saturday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., gave the Internal Service Revenue a deadline of April 23 to hand over the president’s tax returns. The IRS missed Neal’s original April 10 deadline. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Wednesday attributed the delay to concerns about privacy and whether the request exceeded the scope of Congress’ investigative authority. He said he was consulting with the Department of Justice about the request. In a letter to IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig, Neal said the concerns lacked merit and did not justify refusing to comply.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said he would issue a subpoena to Mazars USA, an accounting firm, on Monday to obtain 10 years of the president’s records. The subpoena requests all records Mazars prepared that relate to Trump or his business entities. Cummings cited the testimony of Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen as the reason for the request. In February, Cohen told lawmakers that Trump had deflated or inflated the value of his assets on financial statements. Cohen showed financial statements he claimed backed up this assertion, some of which Mazars had prepared.

The committee’s top Republican, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, condemned Cummings’ effort in a statement Friday, calling it an “an astonishing abuse of this committee’s authority and a disgraceful departure from the fair and legitimate oversight he promised.”