IRS Urges Supreme Court to Permit Congress Access to Trump's Tax Filings (Newsmax)
By Jay Clemons | Thursday, 10 November 2022 04:14 PM EST
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Treasury Department encouraged the United States Supreme Court Thursday not to block a lower-court ruling requiring the agencies to submit former President Donald Trump's previous federal tax returns to Congress.
In a legal brief submitted to the nation's highest court, the agencies reasoned that Trump's emergency request for a delay "cannot satisfy the demanding standard for that extraordinary relief."
After that legal submission, the House Ways and Means Committee filed its own brief, requesting that the Supreme Court resist any further delays from Trump's representatives, along with denying the former president's request to let the high court hear previous appeals.
"Further review from this Court is unwarranted, so there necessarily is no basis to issue emergency relief pending appeal," wrote the attorneys for the Democrat-controlled committee.
On Nov. 1, Chief Justice John Roberts issued a temporary block on the Ways and Means Committee seizing control of Trump's tax returns — along with other financial disclosures.
The Ways and Means Committee has previously stated it needed the tax returns from the Treasury Department, as part of a larger probe into Trump's taxes.
However, it's unknown if this pursuit involves Trump's financial disclosures prior to 2016 — when he was a private citizen.
According to CNBC, by law, presidential tax returns are automatically audited each year.
In the filing Thursday, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the acting lawyer for the IRS and Treasury Department, argued the federal appeals court "correctly held" that the request for the tax records by the Ways and Means Committee provided a "legitimate legislative purpose."
It's not clear exactly what financial crime Trump has allegedly committed — from a federal standpoint.
On a state level, Trump and New York Attorney General Letitia James have been sparring in the courts for months over matters involving the Trump Organization, with both parties recently filing countersuits.
As chronicled on Newsmax last week, Devin Nunes, CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), said the stakes could be high with Trump's lawsuit against James' office, now that the former president has requested a Florida court shield his revocable trust from Manhattan officials.
"There's a lot on the line for the future of our country, if you're going to allow this weaponization of the justice system," said Nunes, while appearing on "John Bachman Now" with host Bianca de la Garza.