Getty Images
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin with President Donald Trump at White House.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday suggested that Treasury is about respond to a request by House Democrats for President Donald Trump’s tax returns.
Mnuchin said, after a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, that it was a “good guess” the department would respond Wednesday, a New York Times reporter said.
Mnuchin says after hearing it would be a “good guess” that Treasury will respond by tomorrow to House request for Trump tax returns.
— Alan Rappeport (@arappeport) April 9, 2019
Last week, Rep. Richard Neal, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the House Ways and Means Committee, sent a letter to the IRS asking for six years of the president’s personal tax returns. Neal also requested the returns of 8 of Trump’s business holdings. He set an April 10 deadline.
During his testimony, Mnuchin was combative, refusing most attempts to get him to comment.
Mnuchin seemed not to agree with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who argued in an op-ed that it was clear that Mnuchin should stay out of the decision and leave it to the IRS. “There is tradition of delegating certain responsibilities but I would just comment that it my responsibility to supervise the [IRS] commissioner,” Mnuchin said.
IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig will testify to a House appropriations subcommittee Tuesday afternoon.
At the end of the hearing, Mnuchin flared up a bit, noting the American people elected Trump despite the fact that he didn’t release his tax returns.
And he noted that House Republicans never requested any tax returns of lawmakers or wealthy Democratic donors when they were in control of the Ways and Means Committee.
“I am sure there are many prominent Democrats who are relieved when [Rep.] Kevin Brady [Republican of Texas] was chairman of the [Ways and Means] committee that he didn’t request specific returns,” Mnuchin said.
Mnuchin said he wasn’t referring to President Obama, who did reveal his taxes. “I was referring to other members of Congress, prominent Democratic people who may support people, ordinary taxpayers,” he said.
Asked about the status of the request from House Democrats during the hearing, Mnuchin would say only that it was “in the process of being reviewed.”
Asked for more details, Mnuchin said: “It would be premature to comment specifically what they are reviewing on and what they are not reviewing on.” “We look forward to responding” to the request, he said.
Read: House Democrats ask for Trump’s tax returns
Related: What could be learned from Trump’s tax returns
“As I’ve said in the past, when we received the request it would be reviewed by our legal department and it is our intent to follow the law and that is in the process of being reviewed,” the Treasury Secretary said.
The Treasury secretary said he hadn’t talked to the president or his chief of staff about the request.
White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that Democrats will “never” see Trump’s tax returns.
Mnuchin said his legal department had been in touch with the White House general counsel’s office about Trump’s tax returns prior to the letter from the Ways and Means Committee arriving . He said this contact was “informational.”
“There were conversations but I am not briefed on the full extent of those conversations and I would also just comment they happened prior to us receiving the notice,” Mnuchin said.
