Donald Trump is desperate to keep his tax returns from Congress, so it’s no surprise he’s taking legal action once again to try to stop the release. This comes a week after the Department of Justice said the IRS is required to release his returns to Congress. The Wall Street Journal reports:
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump asked a federal judge to block the release of his tax returns to Congress, saying Democratic lawmakers have no legitimate purpose in seeking them and are trying to score political points by embarrassing Mr. Trump.
The filing says, “The record overwhelmingly reveals that the purpose of the requests…is to expose the private tax information of one individual—President Trump—for political gain. They were made to retaliate against President Trump because of his policy positions, his political beliefs, and his protected speech, including the positions he took during the 2016 and 2020 campaigns.”
The legal fight over this could drag on for months but in The Washington Post Teri Kanefield writes that there are lots of “holes in Trump’s defense.” His lawyers argue “There is no evidence of any wrongdoing here.” But Kanefield writes “there is considerable evidence of wrongdoing. The Trump Organization — a closely held company run by Trump himself and his family members — was recently indicted on charges of tax fraud. Prosecutors described a 15-year tax avoidance scheme “constituting a systematic ongoing course of conduct with intent to defraud.” The 15 counts included falsification of records.”