Former United States President Donald Trump's lawyers urged a federal judge on Tuesday not to dismiss a lawsuit that aimed to block the Treasury Department and IRS's attempts to acquire the Republican businessman's tax returns and give them to the House Ways and Means Committee.
In the more than three-hour-long courtroom arguments, Trump's attorneys said that committee chair Richard Neal's reasons for seeking the tax returns were simply a pretext to look for something embarrassing regarding the former president. On the other hand, U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden was having difficulties with the issue.
Trump's Tax Returns
The official said that Trump's parties were able to get a variety of statements, including one from Chairman Neal, that could suggest that there was something other than legal proceedings that are going on. However, House officials said that the reason the committee was requesting the documents was a genuine legal reason.
Lawyers said that federal courts had no authority or power to examine the motives of Congress to determine whether or not its actions that sought information of the former president were proper under the Constitution.
"The committee had a valid reason to look at the IRS program for auditing presidential returns and considering whether it should be required by a statute," said a representative for the Ways and Means Committee, Douglas Letter, NBC News reported.
The situation comes as former President Trump is the first American leader in the last 40 years that has not publicly disclosed his tax returns. The Republican businessman's decision to withhold these documents is considered by some as his attempts to hide the details of his massive wealth and the activities of his family's company, the Trump Organization.
In 2019, the House Ways and Means Committee sued Trump for a forced disclosure of his tax returns and continues despite the former president already having left office 10 months ago. Patrick Strawbridge, Trump's lawyer, was the one who told McFadden that the committee had no legitimate reason to acquire his client's tax return documents.
Validity of the Requests
McFadden argued that Democrats had contradicting statements about why the Ways and Means Committee wanted Trump's tax return documents. Some of the public statements suggest that the reason was that they wanted the former president's tax returns to consider legislation, Reuters reported.
However, the judge said he was reluctant to second-guess Neal's motivations, suggesting that he may allow the case to move forward despite opposition. McFadden said he will issue a written decision in the next three weeks answering whether or not the lawsuit should progress.
But in one instance during an exchange, McFadden questioned the Biden administration's Justice Department lawyer over the agency's reversal in the case. He asked that if Congress changed hands in the next few years and a Republican chairman sought Biden's tax returns, would they just simply hand over the documents.
It remains unclear how McFadden, who was appointed by Trump, might rule in the case or whether or not he believes that Democrats' requests were valid, The Hill reported.
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