The Joe Biden administration will not turn over former President Donald Trump’s tax returns to the U.S. House of Representatives until at least November, despite recent opinion from the Justice Department that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS, for its acronym in English) “must” do it.
In this way, a federal judge will hear legal arguments about whether Trump can block the publication of his tax returns. This change in the schedule cools, in the immediate future, one of the two main court cases under way regarding access to Trump’s tax returns.
The Biden administration told Trump-appointed Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington District Court last week that the Treasury Department believes Trump’s tax returns should be turned over “quickly” to the Ways and Means Committee. of the House of Representatives.
But the agency also agreed to wait and allow Trump to argue against releasing the documents.
Trump’s arguments
Trump’s legal team has argued against the release of the tax returns, claiming that House Democrats were going after Trump for political reasons.
Trump asks the federal court to permanently block the Treasury Department from turning over its tax returns and to order the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Richard Neal, to “end all ongoing investigations” into Trump and his Business.
According to a brief court hearing on Monday, the Biden administration and the House committee will have a month to respond to Trump’s arguments, a usual time in cases like this.
No decision until November
Arguments will take place on November 8, which means that McFadden will not make any major decisions in the case before then.
The administration’s delivery of tax returns would be in line with the latest Justice Department policy.
The House of Representatives has another pending court case in which it also seeks Trump’s tax records, started by the accounting firm Mazars USA. The judge could rule any of these days on the case.