Newsman: A House committee voted Tuesday to publicly release some of Donald Trump’s tax returns. The Democratic committee chairman and Lawmakers said that personal information must be redacted from the documents, and the process could take at least a couple of days.
Republicans denounced the move as a purely political precedent and said it could be used in the future to target many Americans.
“Regrettably, the deed is done,” said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Tex., the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee.
Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee said releasing the Trump tax returns is in the public interest, and part of an effort to improve auditing procedures at the Internal Revenue Service.
“This was never about being punitive. It was never about being malicious,” said Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the Democratic committee chairman, after a party-line vote following a closed-door debate that lasted more than four hours.
Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the Democratic committee chairman and other lawmakers said Trump tax returns will be attached to a report to the full House regarding IRS auditing; sensitive personal information must still be redacted from the documents, including Social Security numbers and street addresses.
The committee issued reports defending their investigation and pointed to evidence that IRS did not audit Trump during his first two years in office, as is standard operating procedure.
The panel had been seeking the returns since 2019 but only received them a few weeks ago, giving members little time to review them and draw conclusions that could influence tax legislation before Republicans take over the House in January.
Committee on Ways and Means Members on both sides of the aisle debated the final step in a years-long fight to obtain Trump’s tax returns despite objections and legal challenges by the former president.
The committee began an audit of Trump only after Congress requested Trump’s tax returns in 2019, and it has not been completed.
