Justice Roberts Delays Trump Tax Document Transfer to House Committee

The court issued a temporary order Tuesday.

QUICK FACTS:
  • The House Ways and Means Committee was temporarily blocked from gaining access to former President Donald Trump’s tax returns on Tuesday.
  • Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts stepped in at the request of Trump’s legal team after Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass) requested the IRS records.
  • Neil serves as the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and made the request of the Treasury Department.
  • The request has been held up in litigation since 2019 when it was first made. When faced with the question, Roberts ruled that the court needed time to hear the president’s emergency appeal which was filed on Monday.
TRUMP’S TAX RECORDS FIGHT:
  • Trump is said to be the only president in the past 40 years who has not divulged his tax information.
  • Requests for the information began in 2015 when he first announced his candidacy for the presidency, but the former president has argued that lawmakers’ persistent efforts to acquire his taxes is due to his political opponents’ desire to discredit or neutralize him in some way.
  • The Supreme Court’s decision to pause the release follows a D.C. circuit court’s previous ruling that allowed the Ways and Means Committee access to the records.
BACKGROUND:
  • The former president and his family have been the subject of a number of seemingly politically motivated investigations into their organization.
  • In July of 2021, the Trump Organization removed its CFO Allen Weisselberg as an officer at “some of its subsidiaries,” as American Faith reported at the time.
  • The move comes after prosecutors accused Weisselberg and the company of a 15-year tax fraud scheme. However, Weisselberg, who has worked for the Trump family since 1973, is reportedly expected to remain at the company.

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