Trump sues in bid to block congressional subpoena of financial records

Donald Trump may or may not have committed crimes. Like it or not everyone commits crimes. This is why I hate government so much: they are all so corrupt. There is nothing we can do about it though. Democrats commit the majority of crimes, but Democrats won’t call out their own. Sometimes Republicans commit crimes, but because Democrats won’t call out their own it makes no sense for Republicans to own their own sins. Everyone is equally at fault, except that Democrats started it. The only thing that can fix this situation is if Democrats completely ignore any crimes Donald Trump committed or will commit in the future.

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“We are done here” in 1…2…3…

No. I doubt the swamp is only on the Democrat side of the house. The name John McCain comes to mind, for instance.

https://mobile.twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/210423753388208128?s=19

Always a tweet

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Here is 6103(f)(1) in its entirety:

6103(f) Disclosure to Committees of Congress
(1) Committee on Ways and Means, Committee on Finance, and Joint Committee on Taxation
Upon written request from the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, the chairman of the Committee on Finance of the Senate, or the chairman of the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Secretary shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request, except that any return or return information which can be associated with, or otherwise identify, directly or indirectly, a particular taxpayer shall be furnished to such committee only when sitting in closed executive session unless such taxpayer otherwise consents in writing to such disclosure.

How do you square the request for a particular individual’s tax return without violating the bolded portion of 6103(f)?

Additionally, what are your thoughts on the reasoning of the latest response from Secretary Mnuchin to Chairman Neil?

Secretary Mnuchin Letter

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It seems to be saying that any return that identifies a particular person can be furnished only to closed executive sessions, but if the taxpayer agrees to it being revealed in a public session, an identifiable taxpayer’s return can be released to an open session.

What should be amazing, but it isn’t, Trump doesn’t realise the implications of his tweet.

Only thing trump knows is how to break laws

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Yep, I misread that one. Long day.

I think the Democrats frustration derives rather from Trump’s ability to operate within the law but to get things done that Democrats think should be against the law. If he were such an inveterate law-breaker, he would have been in jail long before making his Presidential run.

Well thats not true…thats why it took him three tries on the muslim ban…

Keep swinging…might make a connection

Thanks for posting this Tim. I really liked his letter. I do not see the courts allowing this.

For all practical purposes, what is the difference between Open and Closed Sessions? If, for example, they look at his individual returns in “Closed” session, what prevents them from debating what was in those returns during “Open” session? Is the only difference that they wont be able to photograph and publish his actual return?

I really liked the letter by Mnuchin. I hope the Court takes it into their consideration. They are my feelings, but he expressed it so much better than I could have.

The section you bolded refers to public disclosure and has no bearing in the request.

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He was joking.

And it only applies to Democrats. There are no rules for Trump and his band of Republicans.

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As the committee detailed in the report they had compiled and published in February of this year, the IRS disclosed 151,806,604 tax returns and/or tax return information in calendar year 2017 under 6103(f).

https://www.jct.gov/publications.html?func=startdown&id=5159
page 53

How does this request qualify as “unprecedented” given that volume of disclosures in 2017?

Republicans openly fighting against transparency.

Who is keeping the list of all the things they flip flopped on? Check that one off too.

@BlueTex Im trying to follow your reasoning, but I really dont. You showed a report for calendar year 17. The report was a compilation of all tax returns and did nothing to show the individual return for any citizen. Is this what Congress is asking for? I would say they are not asking for this at all. They are asking for the file that a private citizen sent in to the IRS. That is what I have a problem with. Further, did you mean to reply to me with the quote? I am asking because my question was about closed vs open session in the particular post you responded to and you didnt address that at all.

Two fold, Mnuchin makes the claim in his letter that this type of request is unprecedented, it’s clearly not. As the notes in the report indicate, every disclosure of bulk data includes the taxpayer identity.

To to the point of the difference between open and closed sessions… As pointed out, in calendar year 2017 there were over 151 MILLION disclosures. Did any of it leak?

It is unprecedented in that they are asking for the return of a single individual and not a compiled report of millions of returns.

Do you honestly believe that Trumps tax return will be kept in confidentiality? As Mnutchen stated in his letter, they publicly stated that they were requesting it so that they could disclose to the American people.