A House Oversight panel has reissued a subpoena for former President Donald Trump’s tax and other financial records arguing it needed the documents to address “conflicts of interest” by future presidents.
Poor, poor Donnie.
Sucks to be him.
I assume he’ll need lawyers to deal with this. At some point foax will demand payment up front for services, so it’ll be “poorer” Donnie as the new problems keep coming 
Wonderful TPM… first thing in the morning is an image of trump mugging for a camera.
Tick tock, hehehe
Here we go!
I’m curious as to what some of the constitutional scholars think about the reasoning here.
And, does the House really even need to give a reason, other than the fact that there’s a law that says they can access anyone’s tax records, and that, hey, we have an open society and we do not have a king, so nothing like this should be withheld from the people (or at least not withheld from the people’s representatives)?
It just sounds to me like they are giving Trump’s attorneys something to tilt at, and distract with. If they’re going to cite some sort of research question, why not add other reasoning, including that this is a matter of principle. I suppose they could tie this to a proposal for a constitutional amendment that all such records (tax returns, both individual and business), are to be made public when someone files to run for office. Talk about a way of weeding out a lot of people who ought not be applying for the job!
Why did this take so long? Should have been done the afternoon of January 20.
I bet they’ll get them inside of a week this time.
Using the protections of our legal system (appeals, presumption of innocence, etc.) to assume power and destroy that same legal system.
And everything else of value in our society.
He has a reputation for not paying his lawyers. This is going to be expensive litigation. Without Bill Barr representing him who is?
Leavenworth will need a Trump Family Wing.
Not so fast. There was an interesting analysis of these matters on the On the Media radio show recently. There’s a long way to go to prove that misrepresentations were made, and, moreover, that Trump actually directed that they be made, or even knew about it.
It might be the tax records will reveal that Trump has other things to hide such as debt to the Russians and the like that would have been more damaging back when he was running for office, but which won’t land him in jail.
Optics, is my guess. With the country reeling from COVID deaths, the economy in shambles, and a new Administration needing its Cabinet confirmed ASAP, focusing on beating a dead horse at that particular moment would have made it seem like the Dems were out for revenge.
It has to be made clear that Dems actually want justice. It’ll be hard enough being heard over the Vast Republican Noise Machine.
Well, he signed 'em, didn’t he? If he “didn’t know” what was in his tax filings, but still signed, that’s on him.
I think you make good points about the tax returns potentially revealing lots of other things, conflicts of interest, foreign entanglements, and of course, all the tweaky dodges that rich people can try to pass as legitimate ways of reducing taxable income.
Over to Michael Cohen and the Trump Org CFO for comment!
Yeah, I would’ve been more than satisfied with a photo of a blank tax return form.
Can’t imagine any lawyer not demanding huge sums up front. They all know his reputation for stiffing people. A civil suit here, a criminal suit there, here a suit, there a suit, everywhere a suit suit, Old MacTrumpin lookin’ at death by a thousand cuts. Let the schadenfreude flow!
This was important when he was president but I think it’s dubious with him as a private citizen. I’m not sure if it’s still within their scope to pursue him. It’s a strange situation. It might have to be left to other prosecutors.
I the barn has burned down already. Letting the horses out won’t fix anything.
Are there any historians or legal scholars to weigh in on this?
