Former President Trump speaks during an event at his Mar-a-Lago home on Nov. 15 in Palm Beach, Florida. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
The Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee voted Tuesday to publicly release six years of former President Trump’s tax returns.
Why it matters: The returns will give new details on the former president’s personal finances that he for years tried to block — and come as he seeks another White House bid and is entangled in a number of separate investigations.
Driving the news: It’s not immediately clear how quickly the House committee may release the returns, which will provide details on some of his tax payments, financial obligations and donations to charity.
- Republicans on the committee are expected to push back firmly against the Democrats’ decision, raising concerns about what the release may mean for future politicians and other Americans, CNN reports.
The big picture: The vote came after a yearslong feud between the former president and Democratic lawmakers over the tax returns, which reached a fever pitch last month when the issue went to the Supreme Court.
- The Supreme Court ruled against Trump, paving the way for the House committee to gain access to the tax returns after it denied Trump’s emergency application.
- The committee has for years tried to gain access to the tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service as part of an investigation into the service’s presidential audit program.
- House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) asked for access to six years of Trump’s tax returns and some of his businesses.
What they’re saying: “For six long years we fought to release these documents because Americans deserve to know if their chief executive is compromised,” Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-N.J.), who chairs the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, said in a statement. “This is a triumph for [the] idea that no one person is above the law.”
- He added that he “categorically” rejects GOP backlash, accusing Republican lawmakers of hypocrisy.
- “Congress is the Article I branch. Our power to oversee the executive is broad. That power was illegally stymied by Trump and his adjutants for years,” Pascrell said.
Between the lines: The Democratic-led committee was up against a deadline — the new Republican House majority could’ve thrown out the investigation in the next Congress.
Zoom out: The Jan. 6 select committee referred Trump on Monday to the Department of Justice on at least four criminal charges for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
- The Jan. 6 committee is expected Wednesday to release its sprawling report, which will include transcripts and additional evidence on Trump’s role in the violence that day.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a statement from Rep. Pascrell.
