Mnuchin’s Withholding of Trump Tax Returns Doesn’t Violate Law, DOJ Says

Mnuchin’s Withholding of Trump Tax Returns Doesn’t Violate Law, DOJ Says
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in Capitol Hill, Washington, on May 15, 2019. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Updated:

The U.S. Department of Justice asserted in a legal opinion released June 14 that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s refusal to hand over President Donald Trump’s tax returns to Congress was not in violation of the law.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) had issued a subpoena demanding the administration turn over six years of Trump’s returns. But last month, Mnuchin refused to comply with the subpoena, saying that the request “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose” as Supreme Court precedent requires, and that the Justice Department is “not authorized to disclose the requested returns and return information.”