Trump-Appointed Judge Tried To Shield His Taxes

At the first opportunity, Judge Neomi Rao tried to do what Donald Trump put her on the second-most powerful court in the country to do: run interference for Trump.

On Friday, the D.C. Circuit issued a ruling in Trump v. Mazars. That’s the case about whether Trump can stop his accounting firm, Mazars, from giving his tax returns to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform as part of its investigation into Trump’s finances.

The Oversight Committee has argued that its investigation underpins a larger inquiry as to whether Congress needs to amend disclosure and ethics rules. Trump has contended the committee has no right to investigate him because it’s looking at his underlying criminal behavior, and it should only be able to do that in an impeachment proceeding.

View the complete October 14 article by Lisa Needham on the National Memo website here.

Appeals court rejects Trump bid to keep financial records from House Democrats

The Hill logoA federal appeals court on Friday ruled against President Trump in his attempt to quash a subpoena for his financial records from House Democrats.

In a 2-1 ruling, a panel of judges for the Federal Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the subpoena, issued by the Democratic-led House Oversight and Reform Committee, is “valid and enforceable.”

Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) cheered the ruling, calling it a “fundamental and resounding victory for Congressional oversight, our Constitutional system of checks and balances, and the rule of law.”

View the complete October 11 article by Naomi Jagoda on The Hill website here.

Trump gets temporary stay after judge rules for DA in tax records case

Judge had ruled earlier Monday against Trump’s efforts to block Manhattan DA’s subpoena for his taxes and other financial info

President Donald Trump won a temporary stay of an earlier court ruling Monday to compel release of his tax returns to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York granted the motion due to “the unique issues raised by this appeal,” which had been filed by Trump’s lawyers in the morning seeking an answer by 1 p.m.

“The notion that the President would be subject to criminal process while he is challenging the constitutionality of that very process is self-refuting,” wrote Trump attorney Patrick Strawbridge. “Whether or not the Court ultimately agrees with the President’s constitutional challenge to the subpoena, he is entitled to appellate review before his papers are forcibly disclosed to a state grand jury.”

View the complete October 7 article by Doug Sword on The Roll Call website here.

Federal judge rules against Trump in fight to keep tax records from Manhattan prosecutors

The Hill logoA federal judge on Monday dismissed President Trump‘s lawsuit challenging a subpoena from New York prosecutors for his tax returns.

Judge Victor Marrero, a district judge in New York appointed by former President Clinton, rejected Trump’s argument that he cannot be subject to the criminal process while in office.

“This Court cannot endorse such a categorical and limitless assertion of presidential immunity from judicial process as being countenanced by the nation’s constitutional plan,” Marrero wrote in a 75-page ruling.

View the complete October 7 article by Naomi Jagoda on The Hill website here.

IRS whistleblower said to report Treasury political appointee might have tried to interfere in audit of Trump or Pence

Washington Post logoAn Internal Revenue Service ­official has filed a whistleblower complaint reporting that he was told that at least one Treasury Department political appointee attempted to improperly interfere with the annual audit of the president’s or vice president’s tax returns, according to multiple people familiar with the document.

Trump administration officials dismissed the whistleblower’s complaint as flimsy because it is based on conversations with other government officials. But congressional Democrats were alarmed by the complaint, now circulating on Capitol Hill, and flagged it in a federal court filing. They are also discussing whether to make it public.

The details of the IRS complaint follow news of a separate, explosive whistleblower complaint filed in August by a member of the intelligence community. That complaint revealed Trump’s request of Ukranian leaders to investigate former vice president Joe Biden, a political rival. It has spurred an impeachment probe on Capitol Hill.

View the complete October 3 article by Jeff Stein, Tom Hamberger and Josh Dawsey on The Washington Post website here.

Court fights over Trump tax returns ramp up

The Hill logoCourt cases over President Trump’s tax returns and financial records have seen a flurry of activity in recent weeks.

Lawsuits are pending in federal courts in a host of disputes concerning Democrats’ efforts to obtain information about the president’s finances.

Some of the lawsuits involve efforts by Democratic-led House committees to get their hands on Trump’s financial information. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday said she’s directed the committees to proceed with their investigations under the “umbrella of impeachment inquiry.”

Here’s where the various lawsuits over Trump’s tax returns and financial records currently stand:

View the complete September 29 article by Naomi Jagoda on The Hill website here.

Trump’s new argument: He’s immune from all criminal investigation in new tax return lawsuit

View the complete September 21 articl eby Igor Derysh from Salon on the AlterNet website here.

Trump sues Manhattan DA to block release of tax returns

Axios logoPresident Trump on Thursday sued Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance in an effort to block New York prosecutors from obtaining 8 years of his personal and corporate tax returns from his longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA.

Context: The New York Times reported this week that Vance’s office had subpoenaed Trump’s tax returns as part of its investigation into hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election.

  • This will be at least the third time Trump has sued to block the release of his tax returns. Earlier this year, the president filed a lawsuit against House Democratsand the state of New York over a law that would permit tax officials to turn over Trump’s state tax returns.
  • Trump, his family and his company also filed a lawsuit against Deutsche Bank to block the bank from complying with congressional subpoenas for their business records. A federal judge in Manhattan declined their request to block Deutsche Bank, which later confirmed that it is indeed in possession of Trump’s tax returns.

View the complete September 19 article by Zachary Basu on the Axios website here.

Deutsche Bank throws curve into Trump tax return fight

The Hill logoDeutsche Bank’s revelation that it has some tax returns related to President Trump has thrown a curve ball into the battle over the president’s financial documents.

The bank has long been seen as a possible avenue to learn more about Trump’s finances since it provided loans to his businesses for many years, even when other banks would not.

Deutsche Bank’s disclosure that it has tax returns confirms that Democrats have an additional route — one some experts think is the most promising — to get tax documents that lawmakers in the party have long sought.

View the complete September 1 article by Naomi Jagoda on The Hill website here.

What to know about Deutsche Bank’s Trump-related tax returns

The Hill logoHouse Democrats’ efforts to obtain President Trump’s tax returns took a new turn this week, when Deutsche Bank said in a court filing that it has tax returns relevant to subpoenas for financial records of Trump, his children and his businesses.

It’s not clear from the court document exactly what tax returns Deutsche Bank has. But the bank’s assertion — made as part of a court case over House Democrats’ subpoenas for financial records — could be good news for Democrats with an interest in seeing Trump’s returns before the 2020 presidential election.

Democrats have been interested in viewing Trump tax returns since the president broke with decades of precedent during the 2016 election and refused to voluntarily make his taxes public. Trump has said he won’t release his returns while under audit, but the IRS has said that audits don’t prevent people from releasing their own tax information.

View the complete August 30 article by Naomi Jagoda on The Hill website here.