- House Democrats have gained access to Donald Trump’s federal tax returns after a years-long legal battle.
- The Democratic-led panel initially requested his personal returns in 2019 when Trump was still president.
- The move came just a week after the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s request to block the panel from receiving the records.
A Democratic-led House committee has obtained access to six years of former President Donald Trump’s federal tax returns, ending a years-long pursuit by the congressional panel to obtain his records.
The move comes eight days after the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s emergency request to block the House Ways and Means Committee from obtaining his records, clearing the way for the panel to receive them.
“Treasury has complied with last week’s court decision,” a spokesperson for the department told Insider on Wednesday. CNN first reported the news.
The department declined to confirm whether the committee had obtained or seen the records yet, and its chairman, Rep. Richard Neal, also did not say. The Massachusetts congressman told reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday that Democrats plan to meet together as a caucus to discuss next moves, though he did not delve further into the matter. A spokesperson for the lawmaker did not immediately return Insider’s request for comment.
Neal had first requested the records in April 2019, shortly after Democrats won the House in the 2018 midterm elections. Trump had legally challenged releasing his returns over the years, yet the Supreme Court last week ultimately dismissed his bid.
Neal had asked for Trump’s personal tax returns and those of his businesses from the Internal Revenue Service as part of an investigation into the agency’s auditing process. Trump had infamously broke with tradition when he refused to publicly release his tax records during his 2016 campaign and kept them under wraps during his term in office. Trump had defended that he was under audit, though records can still be released then.
It’s unclear what House Democrats’ plans are for Trump’s records, and whether they will be released publicly. The party has little time, however, to review the returns as Republicans are set to take over the lower chamber on January 3 and don’t intend to take up the issue.
Correction: November 30, 2022 — A previous version of this story cited CNN reporting that the House committee obtained Trump’s tax returns. The committee has obtained access to Trump’s tax returns. It is unclear if the committee has obtained the tax returns.
