MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th May, 2019) US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a letter to the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee refused to comply with the House Democrats' subpoena for US President Donald Trump's tax returns.
In April, the Ways and Means Committee requested the Treasury Department release confidential tax returns and other tax information of Trump and related business entities for the 2013-2018 period. Responding to the request in early May, Mnuchin said that he would not release Trump's tax returns. However, the Committee's Chairman Richard Neal (Democrats) reiterated his request and issued a subpoena for Trump's tax records.
"As I explained in my May 6 letter to the Committee, the Department of the Treasury has consulted with the Department of Justice concerning the lawfulness of the Committee's unprecedented request. In reliance on the advice of the Department of Justice, we have determined that the Committee's request lacks a legitimate legislative purpose, and... the Department is therefore not authorized to disclose the requested returns and return information," Mnuchin said in the letter to Neal on Friday.
Mnuchin added that it was for the same reasons his department was unable "to provide the requested information in response to the Committee's subpoena."
"As I explained in my May 6 letter, the Department of Justice has informed us that it intends to memorialize its advice in a published legal opinion as soon as practice," he added.
Earlier in May, the New York Times revealed that Trump reported more than $1 billion in losses in his Federal tax returns filed from 1985 to 1994. The president, however, criticized the reports, calling them inaccurate and "fake."
