WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared way for imminent extradition Former President Donald Trump After a three-year legal battle, file a tax return with a congressional committee.
Without comment, the court rejected Trump’s petition for an order that would prevent the Treasury Department from filing six years of tax returns for Trump and some of his businesses with the Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee. did.
It’s the second time Trump has lost a Supreme Court case in recent months, and the third this year. In October Court refuses to intervene in legal battle over FBI investigation into Trump’s Florida estate It revealed classified documents.
In January, a court refused to stop the National Archives from submitting documents to a House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riots. Justice Clarence Thomas was the only voter in favor of Trump.
In the controversy surrounding his tax returns, the Treasury Department had refused to provide records from the Trump presidency. said it has made it clear that it has the right to investigate
A lower court dismissed Trump’s claim, agreeing that the commission has broad powers to obtain tax returns.
Chief Justice John Roberts imposed a temporary freeze on Nov. 1 to allow the court to weigh legal issues raised by Trump’s lawyers against the administration’s and House’s counterarguments. .
Just three weeks later, the court reversed Roberts’ order without question.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The House of Representatives argued that an order barring the IRS from filing tax returns would give lawmakers “little or no time to complete legislative work during this Congress that is nearing its end.”
If Trump had persuaded the country’s Supreme Court to intervene, he could have run out the committee’s clock with Republicans poised to take control of the House in January. Had the issue not been resolved by then, they would almost certainly have dropped the record request.
The House Ways and Means Committee and its chairman, Democrat of Massachusetts, Richard Neal, released Trump’s tax returns for the first time in 2019 as part of the Internal Revenue Service’s audit program and an investigation into the former president’s compliance with tax laws. requested a letter. Federal law states that the Internal Revenue Service “provides” taxpayer returns to a handful of top legislators.
The Justice Department under Trump has defended then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s decision to withhold tax returns from Congress. Mnuchin argued that he could withhold the documents because he concluded Democrats wanted them for partisan reasons.
After President Joe Biden took office, the commission updated its request, asking for Trump’s tax returns and additional information from 2015 to 2020. The Ministry of Finance took the position that it had no choice but to comply. Trump then tried to stop the extradition in court.
Then-Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. obtained copies of Trump’s personal and business tax records as part of a criminal investigation. That case also went to the Supreme Court, which rejected claims that Trump had broad immunity as president.