Trump’s tax returns available to investigators after US Justice Department reversal
- In a one-two punch, the department also disclosed a memo showing the former president had urged officials to falsely claim his election defeat was ‘corrupt’
- Trump, the first president in 40 years not to release his tax returns, has long fought them being handed over to congressional investigators
The department, reversing course from the stance it took when Trump was in office, told the Internal Revenue Service to provide the Republican businessman-turned-politician’s tax records to congressional investigators – a move he has long fought.
Trump was the first president in 40 years to not release his tax returns, as well as other documents, as he aimed to keep secret the details on his wealth and activities of his family company, the Trump Organization. The Democratic-led House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee has said it wants the tax data in part to examine whether Trump had taken inappropriate advantage of US tax laws.
The fact that the Justice Department let congressional investigators obtain the notes marked a dramatic shift from the Trump administration’s repeated assertion of executive privilege to skirt congressional scrutiny.