Trump’s tax returns must be released to Congress, Justice Department says

The Department of Justice said Friday that the IRS must turn over former President Donald Trump’s income tax returns to Congress.

The DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel said in its opinion that the House Ways and Means Committee had given “sufficient reasons” for requesting the information.

When a congressional tax committee asks for such tax information, “the executive branch should conclude that the request lacks a legitimate legislative purpose only in exceptional circumstances,” the Office of Legal Counsel said.

The opinion is a reversal from the Office of Legal Counsel’s previous position. In 2019, it concluded just the opposite, agreeing with the Trump administration that Congress lacked a legitimate legislative purpose and simply wanted to try to embarrass Trump.

The opinion Friday said that 2019 finding “went astray” in saying the executive branch should closely scrutinize Congress’ stated justifications. That failed to give sufficient deference to another branch of the government, it said.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said in a statement in response to the DOJ’s reversal that he has said “for years” that “the committee’s case is very strong and the law is on our side. I am glad that the Department of Justice agrees and that we can move forward.”

Neal filed a lawsuit in federal district court in July 2019 against the IRS and the Department of the Treasury to secure access to Trump’s tax returns.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement that the Biden administration had “delivered a victory for the rule of law” and was respecting the public’s interest by complying with Neal’s request.

“Access to former President Trump’s tax returns is a matter of national security,” she said. “The American people deserve to know the facts of his troubling conflicts of interest and undermining of our security and democracy as president.