Pascrell slams Mnuchin over refusal to release Trump tax returns

Rep. Bill Pascrell on Tuesday slammed Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin for refusing to accede to a request for President Donald Trump’s tax returns made by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass).

“Secretary Mnuchin is again choosing to violate the law to keep Trump’s records hidden away. This administration’s contempt for rule of law is without peer. While the Chairman made a standard request to the IRS, the Treasury Secretary is inserting himself and the Barr Justice Department to bodyguard the President from reasonable oversight,” Pascrell said. “I stand behind Chairman Neal as he continues the crusade to impose plain oversight on this corrupt administration.”

Trump is the president and major party nominee to not release his tax returns in more than forty years.

Then-candidate Trump reneged on a promise to release his tax returns in 2016, claiming he could not do so because he was being audited by the Internal Revenue Service.

The IRS has said on more than one occasion that the audit, which Trump claims is ongoing, does not prevent him from releasing the returns.

Mnuchin cited the unprecedented nature of House Democrats’ request in missing the House-imposed deadline to release Trump’s tax returns.

He told lawmakers he expects to deliver a final decision to the Ways and Means Committee by May 6.