US House Committee Receives Trump's Tax Returns

Facts

• The US Department of the Treasury on Wednesday confirmed it has turned over former Pres. Trump’s tax returns from 2015-2020 to the House Ways and Means Committee following a years-long battle to get them released.
• The tax return battle dates to 2019 when the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the accounting firm Mazars USA after former Trump attorney, Michael Cohen, testified under oath alleging Trump’s habit of misrepresenting his net worth.
• Trump, who vowed to fight Congress “tooth and nail” on this matter, had previously broken with modern precedent by refusing to make his tax returns public.
• A three-judge federal appeals panel this year rejected Trump’s claims that the request for his tax information was unconstitutional. Late last month, Trump asked SCOTUS to intervene; it decided to give the House Ways and Means Committee access to Trump's tax returns instead.
• Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, has said Congress needs the returns to check if Trump and his companies complied with tax laws and if the Internal Revenue Service audit of Trump was conducted "fully and appropriately."
• Democrats in Congress have little time to work with the documents because Republicans will take the majority in the House next month.

Sources: Reuters, Daily Caller, New York Times, and CBS.

Narratives

• Democratic narrative, as provided by CNN. Trump has dragged this out long enough, even as several judges – many appointed by Republicans – have ruled against him even before the SCOTUS decision. It’s time to solve the mystery of why he fought so hard to keep his tax returns from public view. If he’s not hiding anything, he shouldn’t worry about what Congress will find.
• Pro-Trump narrative, as provided by Daily Wire. This decision is an unprecedented violation of Trump’s privacy rights, and the committee’s reasoning is preposterous. There’s very little time for Democrats to make any legal reforms based on what they’re going to read in the returns before Republicans take control of the House. The conservative majority SCOTUS should've stuck with Justice Roberts' original rejection.