Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon grilled Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Wednesday in a public hearing about how his department has treated requests differently when they’ve come from Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
“One request is backed up by clear, statutory language in tax code section 6103 requiring the ‘shall provide’ tax documents to the committee,” Wyden said, referring to the congressional Democrats’ efforts to obtain President Donald Trump’s tax returns. “The other request doesn’t have the same legal basis, and certainly, to me, it looks political,” he continued, referring to Republicans’ efforts to obtain financial information related to former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.
“The request from the Democratic chair, with a firm legal basis, was met with nothing but legal foot-dragging. The request that came from the Republican chairs got VIP treatment. They got, you know, a response out the door in a flash. So it looks to me like there’s a double standard here. And that you all are tipping the scales of congressional oversight. What am I missing Mr. Secretary?” Wyden asked. Continue reading.