House Investigation thread

Congress requests Stormy Daniels hush-money payoff notes

from former Fox News reporter​

like all other mainstream media outlets, FoxNews had reports filed related to the hush-money payoff;

the only difference was that FoxNews suppressed the article by reporter Diana Falzone . ​

The article was scratched because Twenty-First Century Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch wanted Trump to win the election, according to the New Yorker.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), chair of the House oversight committee, is seeking any information about Trump’s “debts and payments to silence women alleging extramarital affairs with him prior to the 2016 presidential election.”

Cummings’ letter also requests information about any “action taken against” Falzone in “connection with attempts to report on such stories.”

Falzone later left Fox and sued the network for gender and disability discrimination. As part of her settlement last year she signed a nondisclosure agreement barring her from discussing any events at Fox.

Cummings wants Falzone to turn over her notes by March 28. Falzone’s attorney, Nancy Erika Smith said that Falzone will comply with the request.

"She’ll tell congressional investigators what happened with the Daniels story because she’ll no longer be bound by her nondisclosure agreement.

“The law requires that you be allowed to participate in any government investigation — and no NDA can stop that,” ​

https://www.aol.com/article/news/20...rmy-daniels-hush-money-payoff-notes/23693066/

 

The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, using a little-known provision in the federal tax code, formally requested on Wednesday that the I.R.S. hand over six years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns, starting what is likely to be a momentous fight with his administration.

Representative Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts, hand-delivered a two-page letter laying out the request to Charles P. Rettig, the Internal Revenue Service commissioner, ending months of speculation about when he would do so and almost certainly prompting a legal challenge from the Trump administration.

Unlike the chairmen of other committees, Mr. Neal is not relying on a subpoena or standard congressional processes. Instead,

he is invoking an authority enshrined in the tax code granted only to the tax-writing committees
in Congress that gives the chairmen of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate
Finance Committee the power to request tax information on any filer.​

Mr. Neal gave the agency until April 10 to comply with the request, and if he receives the information, he will then confidentially review it with his committee staff.

The provision, which dates in some form to the Teapot Dome scandal of Warren G. Harding’s administration, at least on its face gives the Trump administration little room to decline a request like Mr. Neal’s. It only says that the Treasury secretary “shall” furnish the information.

“President Trump is the first president in nearly a half century to break precedent and refuse to voluntarily release his tax returns,” said Representative Dan Kildee, Democrat of Michigan and a member of the Ways and Means Committee. “The president is the only person who can sign bills into law, and the public deserves to know whether the president’s personal financial interests affect his public decision making.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/03/us/politics/mueller-report-subpoena-house.html

 

Under Section 6103(f) of the Internal Revenue Code, three committees in Congress have the power to request individual tax returns.

That section of the IRS code states the following:

"Upon written request from the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives,
the chairman of the Committee on Finance of the Senate, or the chairman of the Joint Committee on Taxation,
the Secretary shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request."​

 

[Premium Post]
So after two years of falsely accusing Trump of collusion with Russia, an investigation that failed to indict a single American of colluding with Russia, the Democrats' answer is to do MORE investigations in search of a crime? Completely tone deaf. Trump can and should reject every one of these fishing expeditions because the Democrats politically-motivated investigations no longer have the public's trust. Two years of lies and fabrications will do that. Hoisted by their own petard, like the gullible fools that they are.

GOOD DAY

 

You seem to forget 6 Trump associates have been indicted and/or Convicted of crimes based on that investigation.

Didn't see you complain about the investigations into Hillary's emails or Benghazi action. None of which even produced an indictment.

 

the traitor is confused.

Trump has always maintained that he'd gladly provide his tax return, as soon as the "tax audit" is done.

Richard Nixon was under a tax audit, as corroborated by a notice of audit from the IRS,
nevertheless, he disclosed his tax returns.
​

we'll soon find out if Trump was merely lying when he said he was under audit, as well as
the sources of his income from overseas (Russia, Saudi, Turkey, etc.)​

 

[Educational Post]
You clearly don't understand how investigations work, nor do you understand the nature of the 'crimes' that the Trump associates were accused of... yet you step to The_Conquistador? How foolish! No wonder you fell for the Russian collusion delusion.

Not a single American was indicted, convicted, or even charged, for conspiracy with Russians to influence the 2016 election. Zero. Andrew Weissman needed to get people to talk, so he searched for people close to Trump's inner circle and situations where he could dredge up old cases, like the Manafort tax fraud and FARA charges, and Michael Cohen cases relating to perjury and unethical business deals. He then files a charge on an unrelated manner, and uses the penalty as leverage to gain cooperation in the actual task at hand -- the fake Russian conspiracy charges. Furthermore, he interviews hundreds of people, looks for small discrepancies in testimony, and then brings perjury charges against people (Flynn, Papadopoulos) -- then he applies the same pressure to get them to flip/talk. That's how this entire thing works. Bringing unrelated charges also creates a smoke screen that dupes gullible fools into thinking that the charges are related to the task at hand -- the fake Russian collusion. You were one of these people who were tricked into thinking this. Now that I have educated you, you can move forward with confidence and knowledge.

GOOD DAY

 

Omg! How will the Dems win another election without voters like you that now at this very moment will now vote republican because Adam Schiff is continuing his investigation into Trump. We are doomed!!


Trump won after 3 years of Benghazi and “her emails”. Give me a break with this bs narrative. This isn’t stopping Trump from doing one damn thing as President. Nobody’s not voting for his infrastructure bill because they are too busy writing reports on election interference.

 

could this be the reason why Trump has reportedly taken a keen interest in confirming one official:
his pick for . . . IRS chief counsel?

The New York Times has reported that Trump pushed to put the IRS nomination of Michael J. Desmond on the fast track,
w a higher priority than his AG nomination.

Trump asked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in early February to take it up
even before taking up Trump’s AGl nomination of William P. Barr. That’s remarkable,
given the gravity of the office Barr was being nominated to and his now-much-discussed role
in overseeing the end of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation.​

never mind that Desmond has personal ties to Trump:

Bloomberg reported that he had briefly advised the Trump Organization on tax issues before Mr. Trump took office;
he had helped with “a discrete reporting matter for a subsidiary company that was resolved with no tax impact.”
In private practice, Mr. Desmond worked for a time alongside William Nelson and Sheri Dillon,
who currently serve as tax counsels to the Trump Organization.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ehind-trumps-nominees/?utm_term=.480d92341bc0​

 

Lol, your FIFY tricked the site. When I hover over "Show Ignored Content" it shows both @Trader_Jorge and @Traitor_Jorge. I first thought someone had made a satire account and that I'd already added it to my ignore list and completely forgot about it, before I realized what caused it.

 

[Educational Post]
You sir, are simply not qualified intellectually or financially to engage me in debate.

GOOD DAY

 

At this point what does Trump gain giving in and releasing his returns? I don't think handing the other side opposition research is a smart move. He's going to stonewall on all the investigations.

Most likely, his taxes will show minimal taxes paid because of loop holes including like-kind exchanges. It's why a lot of zillionaires invest in real estate.

 

What would trump gain? Something he doesn't give a damn about, which is doing what he promised to do, show the American people his tax returns, as every president since Nixon has done, and Nixon was under audit when he did. As for what his returns would tell us? We have no idea. They could show nothing bad at all. If so, why lie about showing them and then fighting like hell not to after being "elected?" They could show what you mentioned, that he avoided paying income taxes by using legitimate tax loopholes. That could be embarrassing, I suppose, but hardly a good reason to fight releasing them, in my opinion.

They could also show that he owes Russian oligarchs huge sums of money. My personal opinion is that they will, which would explain some of the bizarre things he has done while in office. The point is that we, the American people, deserve to know just what they show, and his actions lend credence to the idea that he has something bad that he's trying to hide from the public. If the fellow has nothing to hide, which he insists is the case, then why go to such lengths to hide those returns from the American people?