Judge Napolitano: Trump should fight NY bill allowing Congress to obtain his tax returns
New York lawmakers pass a bill giving Congress a path to access President Trump's tax returns. Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano explains why the president would win a court fight against the move.
Wells Fargo and TD Bank have turned over President Trump’s financial records to the House Financial Services Committee, Fox News confirmed on Thursday, amid a contentious legal battle between the Trump administration and congressional Democrats seeking access to sensitive files.
The committee, led by Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., is one of several panels that have issued subpoenas and requests for Trump’s financial files.
FEDERAL JUDGE RULES BANKS MUST COMPLY WITH SUBPOENAS FOR TRUMP FINANCIAL RECORDS
NBC News first reported that Wells Fargo turned over a few thousand documents to the committee, and TD Bank provided a handful.
The banks are two of the nine financial institutions with which congressional Democrats are seeking cooperation. The push has led to an escalating legal battle on multiple fronts.
On Wednesday, a federal judge in New York ruled that two other banks, Deutsche Bank and Capital One, were required to comply with congressional subpoenas seeking access to Trump’s financial records.
The House Financial Services Committee and the House Intelligence Committee both have requested the documents from Deutsche Bank and Capital One in their investigations of possible “foreign influence in the U.S. political process.”
“We remain committed to providing appropriate information to all authorized investigations and will abide by a court order regarding such investigations,” Deutsche Bank said in a statement to Fox News after the ruling.
Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means Committee is seeking the president’s tax returns, and has issued subpoenas for the files.
DEM WANTS TRUMP OFFICIALS JAILED FOR NOT TURNING OVER TAX RETURNS
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he would not comply with the subpoena for the president’s tax returns last week, but this week, a confidential draft IRS memo was revealed calling the disclosure “mandatory” unless the president asserts executive privilege over the financial documents.
The Washington Post first reported on the 10-page memo, which does not mention Trump by name, but appears to add a new level of pressure to the White House. Mnuchin, though, has maintained that the Democrats’ requests for Trump’s tax returns “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose” and said his department will not “disclose the requested returns and return information.”
The IRS on Wednesday pushed back on that report, stating the memo does not represent an official position for the agency.
The standoff between the congressional Democrats and the administration is likely to lead to a court battle, with Trump reportedly indicating he’s prepared to fight all the way to the Supreme Court.
Trump declined to reveal his tax returns during the 2016 presidential election, claiming he was under audit. Political candidates aren’t required to disclose their tax returns, though traditionally all candidates do.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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