U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means

08/01/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/01/2021 18:02

Justice Department Ignored Democrats’ Intention to Publicize Trump Tax Returns

Justice Department Ignored Democrats' Intention to Publicize Trump Tax Returns

WASHINGTON - The Biden Justice Department's recent unprecedented ruling hands over President Trump's private tax returns to a partisan witch hunt by Democrats in Congress that threatens to unleash a new political war threatening the privacy of all Americans' tax returns.

The Justice Department ignored repeated public statements by Democrats that reveal their real intentions throughout their years-long campaign to obtain the President's tax records - intentions that dismiss their 'legitimate' legislative purpose.

Having failed on the first attempt to secure the returns, Ways and Means Democrat Chairman Richard Neal assured the Justice Department in June: 'There have been claims that the true and sole purpose of the Committee's inquiry here is to expose former President Trump's tax returns. These claims are wrong.'

Yet Democrats repeatedly made clear their real intentions throughout their years-long campaign to obtain these records.

In their own words:

  • During the 115th Congress, then-Ranking Member Neal (D-MA) stated that 'Committee Democrats remain steadfast in [their] pursuit to have [President Trump's] individual tax returns disclosed to the public.'
  • In 2020, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) stated: 'When we win this election, and we have a new president of the United States in January, and we have a new secretary of the Treasury, and Richie Neal asks for the president's returns, then the world will see what the president has been hiding all of this time.'
  • In 2019, Chairman Neal stated that 'the public has reasonably come to expect that presidential candidates and aspirants release those documents.'
  • Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) noted that the Ways and Means Committee's Oversight Subcommittee hearing was intended to 'lay the foundation for the public purpose to acquire access to these returns.'
  • In 2018, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) said, 'Probably the approach would be to get all of it, review it, and…release all or part of it.'