DOJ Backs Mnuchin On Handing Over Trump’s Taxes

Law & Crime reports:



The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) published an opinion on Friday in support of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin‘s refusal to hand President Donald Trump‘s tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee led by Chairman Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.).

The opinion, penned by OLC’s Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel, said that House Democrats were using 26 U.S. Code § 6103(f) merely as a pretext to obtain Trump’s tax returns. Engel said that Mnuchin was right to say this was not a legitimate legislative purpose.

“The text of section 6103(f), the statutory exception under which the request was made, does not require the Committee to state any purpose for its request. But Congress could not constitutionally confer upon the Committee the right to compel the Executive Branch to disclose confidential information without a legitimate legislative purpose,” Engel said.