Donald Trump refused to make them public, but they should end up in the hands of Congress anyway: the US Department of Justice ordered, Friday, July 30, that the former president's tax returns be sent to a committee of the Congress.
The House of Representatives committee which deals with budgetary matters "has presented sufficient reasons to request tax data from the former president and the Treasury must provide him with this information," said the ministry in a memorandum.
Unlike all his predecessors since the 1970s, Donald Trump, who has made his fortune a campaign argument, refuses to publish his tax returns.
Its lack of transparency fuels speculation on the extent of its wealth or on potential conflicts of interest.
To try to find out more, three committees of the House of Representatives, controlled by the Democrats, had asked in 2019 the accounting firm Mazars, but also the banks Deutsche Bank and Capital One, a whole series of financial documents relating to the business. of Donald Trump between 2010 and 2018, and those of his relatives.
The “Ways and Means” commission, to which the ministry's memorandum relates, more specifically calls for six years of tax declarations within the framework of its power to audit tax services.
Possible remedies from Donald Trump
At the same time, Manhattan prosecutor Cyrus Vance also claimed Donald Trump's financial records as part of an investigation into possible violations of New York laws.
Arguing about his presidential immunity and the separation of powers, Donald Trump fought on all these fronts, going twice to the Supreme Court which, in February, authorized the transmission of certain documents to the new justice system. Yorker.
As the investigation takes place behind closed doors, this information remains protected by secrecy.
The former president could again present appeals to oppose the order of the Ministry of Justice but his intentions were not known on Friday.
Without waiting to know them, the Democratic President of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, hailed "a victory for the rule of law" and attacked again the former host of the White House.
"Americans deserve to know the facts about his troubling conflicts of interest which, under his presidency, have undermined our security and our democracy," she said in a statement.
With AFP
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