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Treasury denies Democrats’ request for Trump’s tax returns

Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin wrote that the request from the House Ways and Means Committee “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose.”
Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin wrote that the request from the House Ways and Means Committee “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose.”
(Andy Wong / Associated Press)
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Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin has made it official: The administration won’t be turning President Trump’s tax returns over to the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.

Mnuchin told Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) in a Monday letter that the committee’s request “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose.”

The move, which was expected, is sure to set in motion a legal battle over Trump’s tax returns. The chief options available to Democrats now are to subpoena the IRS for the returns or to file a lawsuit.

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Neal originally demanded access to Trump’s tax returns in early April under a law that says the IRS “shall furnish” the returns of any taxpayer to a handful of top lawmakers, including the chair of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.

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