"Democrats are singularly obsessed with finding something they can use to damage the President"

Okay, to remove any objectionable whataboutism, regardless of how relevant it might be: if Congress is abusing its power by using some legal trick to force a handover of Trump's tax returns in some completely unjustified and unethical way, I don't care. More power to them. So, you say its harassment, I say I don't care it it is. They'll all do what they're going to do and then we'll vote in 2020 and see if anyone regrets what they've done.

 

Fair enough.

I just wanted an explanation as to legislative justification for this subpoena. I couldn't think of any and now I see there isn't one other than dirty politics.

 

The fact that you are asking clutch fan posters than actually searching the answer to the question yourself shows that you really aren't genuinely interested.

 

You have not done your due diligence.

 

Simply stated... Law gives them the power to request anyone's tax returns. Doesn't mean they can release them publicly. Congress is NOT making the request for them to be made public to try and weaponize them politically. That's important to note. They don't have that power despite what people here might think they'll do with them if they get them. The House Ways and Means Chair understands this I'm sure.

However.... Congress has oversight duties of not just the executive branch, but the IRS itself. Here are two major reasons why they should be making the request-

A. The president just signed into law a major overhaul of our tax system. They need to know that laws are not being changed for corrupt intent.
B. There is an exhaustive investigation done by the NYT that found significant laws that were broken.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html

The constitution is pretty clear here that Congress has the power to request his, and anyone else's taxes. If you think that's an abuse of their power, fine. But it is absolutely their power to do so.

Disclosure to Committees of Congress
Secretary shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request, except that any return or return information which can be associated with, or otherwise identify, directly or indirectly, a particular taxpayer shall be furnished to such committee only when sitting in closed executive session unless such taxpayer otherwise consents in writing to such disclosure.

Important to note who is actually breaking the law here or abusing power. The Secretary of the Treasury is openly violating the constitution by not allowing the Committee Chair to even view the returns in a "Closed Executive Session".

 

Uh, no.

This is a topic du jour and I want to know more about it.

I couldn't think of any legislative justification for Congress demanding Trump's tax returns. If someone had provided that justification I would be happy to contemplate it. You haven't and JuanValdez here has confirmed that there is none.

 

Yea, that's a pretty generic statement. It's hard to find a material justification in there.

 

I don't know if they have a legislative justification or not. I wasn't interested in one, so I didn't look for one.

 

Looks like your request was just answered.

 

See my above post. The Tax Bill that the President just signed into law is a pretty damn good reason. And I stated the power they have under the constitution to do so.

Questions I'd like you to answer from that post-

-Are you okay with the Secretary of Treasury not following the Constitution?
-Do you think following the clear direction of the Constitution in this case is an "Abuse of Power"?
-Congress cannot by law disclose the returns to the public. Why do you care if they see them under their normal authority in Executive Session?

 

Ok, that reads to me as if no justification is needed.

The committee can just demand any citizens tax returns and they can get them.

That's cool.

That's an answer we could have had 10 posts ago.

 

Correct. Its important to note its Executive Session they are by law allowed to get. NOT disclose to the public.

 

At this point I really do not care.

Everyone knows who and what Donald Trump is and isn't.

The Democrats can impeach him if they would like, or he can have criminal charges brought against him after he leaves office.

I simply do not care. I have zero sympathy for the President or his supports and I likewise am sick of hearing from the Democrats that Trump is corrupt and unfit, any sane person already knows that.

 

Maybe if the Republicans had not been so sh!tty to the last president . . . . . .

Rocket River

 

Party is definitely split up over this. Mueller didn't change much... NPR still taking about it day in day out.

 

Yea but are you more okay with letting Trump not be held accountable for anything?

Democrats shutting their mouths about Trump’s corruption only helps Trump.

 

I mean the Mueller Report essentially corroborates much of the reporting that was “fake news”.

Mueller won’t change the partisans but hopefully the independents who are on the fence.

 

We don't give a damn what you believe about Trump because you have obviously surrendered all integrity and credibility to run intereference for the biggest scumbag in US political history. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

 

I think at the end of the day, the Democrats need to worry about getting elected and getting Trump out of the White House.

I don't think getting Trump impeached is going to help that and may hurt Democrats in places like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida.

 

What else is Trump hiding?

I don’t trust him.