‘This should put to bed any question about the Treasury Department’s handling of this matter…’
(Joshua Paladino, Liberty Headlines) Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin correctly denied the House’s request for President Donald Trump’s tax returns because it lacked a “legitimate legislative purpose,” according to an investigation by Richard Delmar, the Treasury Department’s acting inspector general.
“The core of our inquiry is that the Department processed the request properly, that it sought legal guidance from the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, determined that it was bound by that office’s advice, and based on that advice determined not to provide the returns and tax information sought,” Delmar wrote.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, asked for the IG’s findings.
“This should put to bed any question about the Treasury Department’s handling of this matter,” Grassley said.
“From the beginning, Democrats have insisted that something must be awry if they didn’t immediately get their way,” he continued. “But that’s not how checks and balances work, and it’s not how the process of congressional oversight works.”
Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., who chairs the Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee, sent a subpoena to both the IRS and Treasury Department for Trump’s personal and business tax returns.
“It’s the role of Congress to ensure that the law is being faithfully executed,” Grassley said. “I’m glad to see that’s the case at the Department of the Treasury.”
He commended Mnuchin for withstanding the pressure to comply with the illegal request from House Democrats—one of many attempts they have made at legislative overreach while seeking further justification to impeach the president.
“I applaud Secretary Mnuchin for following the proper procedures, and the law, in denying the request for President Trump’s tax returns on the advice of the Office of Legal Counsel, which determined the request lacked a legitimate legislative purpose,” Grassley said.
Grassley said Democrats wanted Trump’s tax returns as political cudgels, not for the purpose of passing laws.
“It’s clear that the only motivation for seeking the president’s tax returns is political,” he said.
“That’s an inappropriate use of 6103 authority and it’s an inappropriate use of congressional oversight powers,” he continued. “The Administration is correct to reject attempts by Democrats to politicize this process. Treasury personnel should be commended for avoiding outside pressures and doing their work by the book.”