U.S. House Democrats press IRS for Trump's tax returns

The Democratic head of apowerful U.S. House committee asked the Internal Revenue Servicefor six years of U.S. President Donald Trump's personal and businesstax returns on Wednesday, in a long-awaited move widely expectedto lead to a long court battle with the White House.

The request, in a letter from Ways and Means CommitteeChairman, Richard Neal to IRS Commissioner, Charles Rettig, isviewed by Democrats in the House of Representatives as a vitalfirst step toward oversight of Trump's income taxes and businessnetwork, which some lawmakers believe could be rife withconflicts of interest and potential tax law violations.

"It is critical to ensure the accountability of ourgovernment and elected officials. To maintain trust in ourdemocracy, the American people must be assured that theirgovernment is operating properly, as laws intend," Neal said ina statement.

IRS and U.S. Treasury officials were not immediatelyavailable for comment.

Trump defied decades of precedent as a presidentialcandidate by refusing to release the tax documents and hascontinued to keep them under wraps as president, saying hisreturns were "under audit" by the IRS.

Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen recentlytestified in Congress that he did not believe the president wasbeing audited but may have used the audit claim to avoidscrutiny that could lead to an audit and IRS tax penalties.

Trump was dismissive of the request but continued to makethe audit argument in comments to reporters during a meetingwith U.S. military leaders on Wednesday.

"Is that all?" the president asked when told Democratswanted to see six years of his returns.

"Usually it's 10, so I guess they're giving up," he said.

"I've been under audit for many years because the numbers arebig and I guess when you have a name, you're audited. But untilsuch time as I'm not under audit, I would not be inclined to dothat."

Neal based his request on his committee's oversightjurisdiction of the IRS, specifically its alleged audits ofTrump and the extent to which the agency has enforced the taxlaws against the president.

Oversight pressure

Congressional Republicans oppose Neal's effort, saying sucha move sets a dangerous precedent by turning the confidentialtax documents of a U.S. citizen into a political weapon.

"This particular request is an abuse of the tax-writingcommittees' statutory authority and violates the intent andsafeguards of ... the Internal Revenue Code, Rep.Kevin Brady, the committee's top Republican, said in astatement.

Independent analysts welcomed the move.

"The Ways and Means Committee's strongest oversight abilityis making sure the IRS is operating properly," said SteveRosenthal, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Centerthink tank in Washington.

It was the third time this week a Democratic-led Housecommittee exerted oversight pressure on Trump. Earlier onWednesday, the House Judiciary Committee authorized its chairmanto subpoena Special Counsel Robert Mueller's full investigationreport on Russia's role in the 2016 U.S. election.

The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed a former WhiteHouse security chief on Tuesday.

Neal's committee initially planned to request only Trump'spersonal tax returns. But some Democrats and independentanalysts pressed for them to include business returns to bettergauge the president's activity in the private sector.

The request includes returns for eight entities: Donald JTrump Revocable Trust, DJT Holdings LLC, DJT Holdings ManagingMember LLC, DTTM Operations LLC, DTTM Operations Managing MemberCorp, LFB Acquisition Member Corp, LFB Acquisition LLC and TrumpNational Golf Club.

A Democratic aide said the committee selected a manageablenumber of business entities that provide a vital window onTrump's business activity.

Although Trump has never released his returns, the New YorkTimes last year cited a "vast trove" of returns and financialrecords saying it showed he engaged in tax schemes includingcases of fraud in which he and his siblings helped their parentsdodge millions of dollars in taxes. The White Housecalled the report misleading.