There’s zero legal nor Constitutional basis to attempt to obtain Trump’s tax returns, which would those of a private citizen at the time, but, Democrats do not care
House Democrats to seek Trump tax returns: Pelosi
Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that members of congress from her party will seek to obtain President Donald Trump’s tax returns when they take control of the U.S. House of Representatives in January – a move the White House is likely to strongly resist.
The House Ways and Means Committee will “take the first steps” toward obtaining the documents, said Pelosi, who has the backing of her members to become speaker of the House next month. As it is likely to be a challenging process, it will be up to the committee to figure out how to proceed, she said.
“There is popular demand for the Congress to request the president’s tax returns,” she told reporters in the Capitol.
“I’m sure the White House will resist and so the question is where do we go from there,” she said.
Trump defied decades of tradition when he refused to release his tax records as a candidate and after his victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. No law or rule compels a president or candidate to disclose their returns, but nearly every nominee and president has done so in recent decades.
As they prepare to take over majority control of the House, Democratic leaders have tried to walk a fine line in articulating their goals. They have said they plan to pursue policies popular with their voter base, but have also said they will not shy away from examining Trump, his personal business dealings and his presidency.
It’s a witch hunt, and under the law Congress has no right to obtain the tax returns of any citizen without a damned good reason, not a fishing expedition. This may be good red meat, er, sorry, upscale tofu for the Democratic Party base, but, how will it play out in Middle America when they see the House Democrats attempt to get those private tax returns in this manner? People already see Congress as authoritarian: this would very much help Trump in 2020.
The records would provide congressional investigators from various House committees with information crucial to efforts to determine if Trump’s business generates conflicts of interest.
Witch hunt. Fishing expedition. Hypocrisy
Facing questions about why she and other top Congressional officials won’t release their tax returns, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) downplayed her previous demands for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney to release his, calling the issue a distraction.
As recently as Wednesday, Pelosi had strongly urged Romney to provide further disclosure of his tax returns. But today, while maintaining Romney should release more documents because of “custom†and “tradition,†Pelosi said the issue was trivial compared with economic issues.
“We spent too much time on that. We should be talking about middle-income tax cuts,†Pelosi said after answering two questions about the issue.
The Minority Leader faced questions about the issue after a McClatchy News report showed only 17 of 535 Members released their tax returns when asked.
Why isn’t she releasing her own? As well as the rest of Congress? Show the people how you become a multi-millionaire on 174K per year. Pelosi has been in office since 1987, yet has a net worth of over $29 million.
She and the other Demonutters should remember that Team Trump can use the same laws to obtain the Dems tax returns.
TEACH: (Pelosi) has a net worth of over $29 million.
According to Roll Call, her family’s net worth is $16 million. Much of this comes from her husband Paul Pelosi’s investment firm. If the House suspected that Rep Pelosi used her position to enrich herself and her husband the GOP could have investigated them, but did not.
https://heavy.com/money/2018/05/nancy-pelosi-net-worth/
Congress has legitimate reasons to suspect Trump being in violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution, profiting from the Presidency and more importantly, being financially involved with other nations. A NYTs investigation that was quickly forgotten claimed that the Trump family has a decades’ long history of tax fraud.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html
If the House suspected that Rep Pelosi used her position to enrich herself and her husband the GOP could have investigated them
Now you know the Whigs would have never stood for that
Congress has legitimate reasons to suspect Trump being in violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution, profiting from the Presidency and more importantly, being financially involved with other nations
He takes no salary, so how is he profiting? Besides, breaking the Constitution onto out-of-context clauses is probably going the way of the buffalo now that The Donald is appointing Constitutionalists to the Federal bench.
Jeff,
Once again your lack of knowledge and experience shows. The IRS has been examining Trumps returns for years, so he has not been breaking any tax law. He has also not taken an active position in his extensive holdings and businesses. The Times and most other so called news outlets have not told the truth in respect to Trump and daily make up news, this is unprecedented.
I find your comments repulsive and inductive of an individual who lacks knowledge and is very stupid. Trump has proven to be one of our better presidents and Obama one of the worst. Most people here seem to agree with this and they are far superior to you.
Why don’t you comment on Hillary and her various crimes and the protection she gets from the deep state. I refer you to Russian Hoax by Jarrett. This provides a very good breakdown of Hillary’s crimes. Your very stupid response will be some comment about conspiracy, which it is as define by coefficients and clear actions.
Note Ocare is now unconstitutional, winning, MAGA.
Don’t hear much about this. Wonder why.
https://saraacarter.com/financial-bounty-hunters-testify-clinton-foundation-operated-as-foreign-agent/
dave,
Although Clinton received millions more votes than tRump, she is not President. tRump very likely committed crimes on his way to the White House – so him and his minions seem to deserve attention.
dave typed: Your very stupid response will be some comment about conspiracy, which it is as define by coefficients and clear actions.
I have no response to your comment.
But it’s obvious the trump revolution is falling apart at the seams, and it’s understandable that his rabid supporters are panicked. tRump was the Great White Hope for folks like you, anti-Black, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ etc.
If tRump’s campaign conspired with the Russians, if tRump is shown to have committed felonies, I agree he should be forced out of office. I think he’ll try to craft a deal for reduced charges and his resignation.
We’ll have to see how the ACA turns out.
MAGA. America is losing!
Look, Jeff said stupid things to get people upset, seems to me the Trump revolution is going well, Dems had a very poor showing at the midterms despite widespread voter fraud. I don’t know what your point is about Hillary getting a large popular vote as it has been clearly demonstrated here that she cheated. I am sorry that the quoted statement was gobled, but once again kindle puts things in. Regardless, Hillary should be in jail for influence peddling among other crimes. Not doing so elevate her and Bill to a royalty status. I guess you are happy with a return to medieval goverment.
dave,
Cons scream “Lock her up!” all the time, but tRump’s DOJ has not done so. Anyway, although she received millions more votes than tRump, HE is President, not her. So what’s your point in still screaming “Lock her up!”?
It’s not my fault you get enraged at things I type. Perhaps you need better self-control.
The Dems seemed to have done OK at the midterms.
What do you make of the fact that by far the most serious investigation of voter fraud is of the NC Republican, Mark Harris? How does that square with the Cons fine whines about voter fraud?
Do you have ANY beliefs you can verify with evidence?
The stock market hasn’t been winning lately. Nor the trade imbalance. Nor the Wall. Nor international respect. Nor the debt. Nor GM workers. NK nukes? The Fed?
Jeff,
Stop commenting, you look like a fool. Stock market?? You are comfortable with letting Hillary off?? You have no values and don’t understand much of anything.
OK dave,
I’ll stop responding to your bizarre grade school taunts.
All you need against Clinton is evidence.
Did you know Ivana Marie is being investigated for soliciting foreign donations for the inauguration committee?
The foreign donations are just a bonus crime.
Jeff,
That is not a crime, nor is collusion with the Russians. Again lies and stupidity. Read the book, all the evidence you need.
There’s this thang in the Constitution called the Electoral College and the Hildabeast flunked out. Trump graduated because he got enough votes to carry enough states and popular vote doesn’t count, although not getting enough legal votes would have doomed her anyway, so she (and you) is a loser.
it’s obvious the trump revolution is falling apart at the seams
Riiiight. The economy’s roaring, he’s won the trade war, the border war, most of the world is emulating him, IdiotCare just went down in flames, and he’s won wars Democrats couldn’t end.
The only thing falling apart is the Left. Your days are coming to an end and you really can’t understand why.
If tRump’s campaign conspired with the Russians, if tRump is shown to have committed felonies
Yeah, but Mule Ears has come up with a whole lotta nothin’, hasn’t he? And I have yet to hear david say he should be forced out. Nobody says that but you.
And you don’t count.
America is losing!
You love saying that, don’t you? And, O how you wish it was true.
Too bad it’s not. You and all the creeps like you are the ones who are losing.
Roll Call also notes that members of Congress are not required to report hard numbers, but only ranges of numbers.
Secondly, Roll Call (which curiously you did not link to) lists her assets at $32.9 million and liabilities (mostly mortgages) of $17 million.
MoneyInc lists Pelosi’s worth are $29 million.
Their legitimate reasons are that they think that their might be a violation of the emoluments clause which is in fact, not a legitimate reason.
The fact of the matter is that tax returns are private matters and unless one can think of a legitimate governmental interest to compel someone to disclose them, there is no legal basis for the demand.
Teach is right. This is another example of the hypocrisy of the Democrats. They want the returns in order to sow discord and hate between people because that is all the left has is hate.
You are absolutely correct, gitarcarver. All they have is hate and it’s getting tiresome. They want to have Trumps tax returns so they can sully and investigate people he does business with. They want to expose his income streams while hiding their own. How about Clinton’s taxes? Obummer’s? Tax returns should never be an issue regardless of the candidate or the party. People are entitled to some privacy for themselves and their families and their business associates. Oh, and an emolument is a payment generally related to performing an act or duty not just regular business dealings. I realize for a bunch of communist lawyers a person actually earning a living instead of stealing that of another is a foreign concept but when you elect a businessman, especially an international businessman you need to understand he was in business before he was president. If anything being president has harmed his business and definitely harmed the Trump brand.
I have come to believe that many (most?) leftists even the one here want Trump impeached, removed from office, tried and imprisoned. In fact I believe they would love to give him and his entire family the Romanov Treatment: remove him from office, strip him of all wealth and possessions, then take him and his entire family to the basement of the Smithsonian and murder them. That is after all SOP for leftists. BTW, they’d love to do that to all of us. Why do you think they are so crazed about “gun control”?
lists her assets at $32.9 million and liabilities (mostly mortgages) of $17 million.
Ahem… 33 – 17 = 16
Also:
A 1924 law allows the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee to examine anyone’s tax returns in private, without their permission, and the likely incoming chairman, Massachusetts Democrat Richard Neal, has said he’d go after Trump’s IRS filings. The law allows him to share the material in private with other lawmakers on the panel and their staff.
Lawmakers can vote to make the information public. That would be highly unusual, though it wouldn’t be unprecedented. A few years ago, Republicans voted to make private tax information about nonprofit groups public, though not individual taxpayers’ returns, as part of an investigation into the IRS.
If Congress isn’t justified in requesting Trump’s return there will likely be no justification for examining any return, ever.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/congress-has-the-power-to-obtain-and-release-trumps-tax-returns/2017/02/07/aa53254c-ea63-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1136f9560d7d
From Jeffery’s cited article:
Trump gets a salary from his corporation. It the Dems want to go after the records of the corporation, that may be one things. But just guessing and saying there may be a conflict of interest does not make it so.
Clearly the people who are pushing for this have no clue to the difference between the financials of a company and an individual.
There is no legitimate governmental interest here other than trying to create class warfare. That warfare increases the hate which is all the left has.
LOL. Since when has justification stopped a Democrat witch hunt?
Uh, never.
You’re full of shit.
And Trump has the same legal right as every other President to invoke Executive Privilege and tell Fatty Nadler to go give himself a heart attack.
Since the Civil War, when it began requiring taxpayers to submit private information to the government to comply with the tax laws
You do know that until Income Tax became a Constitutional Amendment, nobody had the right to do it? Lincoln’s income tax was illegal (God, I hate having to give him another history lesson).
PS The link at the article goes nowhere, so your “law” looks like just another Lefty wet dream.
<i.Cons scream “Lock her up!†all the time, but tRump’s DOJ has not done so. Anyway, although she received millions more votes than tRump, HE is President, not her. So what’s your point in still screaming “Lock her up!�
First, it’s not just Conservatives. Republicans of all stripes feel the same way, as do Libertarians and, at this point, more than a few Democrats.
Second, Trump has been cleaning out the swamp rats out of the DOJ that have been covering for her, so until now, it has not been his DOJ.
Finally, fraudulent votes do not count. Votes that do not give you electoral votes do not count. I know you have been ordered to keep repeating this nonsense in the hope those with typical Democrat mentalities will begin to believe it, but it’s wasted here.
All you need against Clinton is evidence.
This is why Trump had to clean out the DOJ first. The swamp rats like Comey and Mule Ears have been covering for her. But now we have the financial officers of the Ozark Global Slush Fund spilling the beans, so evidence is on the way.
What do you make of the fact that by far the most serious investigation of voter fraud is of the NC Republican, Mark Harris? How does that square with the Cons fine whines about voter fraud?
Not as much as the 7 people in FL and the 9 people in TX busted as Democrat fraudsters. And we have nothing but allegations against Harris even now. NC has yet to charge him with anything. It’s just Democrats whining.
Then again, Harris did what Jerry Brown did in CA, so why whine? And, yes, dearie, you’re whining.
Unless you can’t take the other side using your tactics.
How does that square with the Cons fine whines about voter fraud?
It doesn’t wipe away the fact your side can’t win without vote fraud. And, my, how you whine about 1 little incident
The stock market hasn’t been winning lately. Nor the trade imbalance. Nor the Wall. Nor international respect. Nor the debt. Nor GM workers. NK nukes? The Fed?
OK, the markets are down this week. Last week they were above 26 grand. Do you know how markets work? I’ll bet not.
Trade is doing fine since the Reds capitulated. Wall held back the invaders.
International respect? In Belgium, Holland, Spain, Italy, and Britain, the people are following Trump’s lead and raising Hell.
The debt is your problem. You made it. Fix it.
As I noted, GM made a corporate decision and the GM workers have been very public in saying they do not blame Trump. Haven’t heard a peep out of Li’l Kim in over a year, and even Jerome Powell has kept his mouth shut.
I know your masters are telling you to push the line that, since the Demos took the House, and don’t count on them keeping it much past New Year’s, it’s all going bad for The Donald, but hey,
Even IdiotCare is going his way.
The debt is your problem. You made it. Fix it.
All you have are lies.
Reagan-BushI tripled the national debt with tax cuts and defense spending.
President Clinton actually reduced the national debt! BushII started the standard GOP debt busting, doubling it by slashing taxes for the rich and invading Iraq.
It doubled again under President Obama because of tax cuts and the Great Recession. Starting in 2009 the economy started a steady recovery from stimulus spending, tax cuts and low interest. We saw an unprecedented multi-year period of job growth and a tripling of the Dow.
Then tRump – at a time when the economy was growing the GOP slashed taxes once again for the rich and corporations, increased spending (more stimulus!) with the inevitable explosion in the yearly deficits (a doubling) and the addition of about a trillion a year to the national debt.
The GOP will work to slash spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, their go-to prescription. tRump has said he opposes these cuts, but he’s a liar.
This happens all the time – the GOP makes a mess and expects the Dems to clean it up.
I thought all we had is hate, but then we’re not the ones wishing everybody on the other side dead.
Franklin Roosevelt made the debt with his tax-and spend ideology and Demos built on it for 50 years.
Willie never balanced a budget. Those numbers are projections. Much like everything we get from you.
Willie’s debt and percent of GDP
1994 $4,693 64%
1995 $4,974 65%
1996 $5,225 64%
1997 $5,413 62%
1998 $5,526 61%
1999 $5,656 58%
2000 $5,674 55
Starting in 2009 the economy started a steady recovery from stimulus spending, tax cuts and low interest. We saw an unprecedented multi-year period of job growth and a tripling of the Dow.
Try again.
The Dow bottomed out at 7000 and peaked for Zippy at 16 grand. Whatever growth was speculative because the Choom Gang tried to peddle the fiction the 2% GDP was the New Normal and that we’d never see job growth again, despite all those Recovery Summers that never were. Not to mention he cooked the books on unemployment by not counting all the people who’d gone on welfare.
This happens all the time – the GOP makes a mess and expects the Dems to clean it up.
The next time will be the first.
And the only way to fix the debt is privatize entitlements
Jethro, did you mention voter fraud?
In 2014, NBC found dozens of illegal aliens voting in Florida.
In Kansas, Victor David Garcia Bebek, a Peruvian national, voted in 2012 and 2014.
In November 2016, there were 6,540 same-day registrants in New Hampshire who registered to vote in New Hampshire using out-of-state driver’s licenses to prove their identity.
In Sacramento, California, two illegal aliens voted five times in 2016.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation found over a thousand persons whovoted illegally in Virginia.
In Cincinnati, a poll worker found her dead neighbor’s name on an active voter registry.
In Maryland, several Democratic city governments are allowing noncitizens to fraudulently vote in elections.
In Ft. Worth, Leticia Sanchez formed a mail-in voter fraud ring, which included helping a blind voter. Just prior to being arrested, she warned her minions that a group of “malicious people†were investigating.
Broward County Election Supervisor Brenda Snipes refused to turn over voting records on the counting and collection of ballots, despite the law saying she had to. There were many irregularities in that 2018 election, such as there being more voters on rolls than actual citizens. s Some 80,000 individuals filled out blank voting forms. Broward County has seen past instances of voter fraud, always in favor of Democrats, the key beingabsentee ballots. “Irregularities†also occurred in Santa Rosa, Citrus, and Okaloosa counties. To date, no one has been arrested.
California turned solid blue in 2018, thanks partly to fraud through “ballotharvesting.â€
Nine Mexican-Americanswere caught in Edinburg, Texas for engaging in voter fraud.
Elsewhere in Texas, the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), alerted district attorneys in Starr and Hidalgo Counties about altered voter applicationssent by the Texas Democratic Party to South Texas noncitizens.
Again in Texas, Marcela Gutierrez, a noncitizen, was indicted by a Hidalgo County for marking a ballotwithout a voter’s consent in a 2016 election.
More than 4,500 ballots were cast in Milwaukee than registered voters in the 2018 election.
In North Carolina, 24 illegal aliens were caught voting in the 2016 elections. 19 foreign nationals were also charged.
“The Public Interest Legal Foundation, a nonprofit specializing in election integrity, found that non-Americans are being added to voter rolls in states such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Virginia. The group says that a large portion of the non-citizens even managed to cast their ballots in elections as well. For instance, in 2017, the group found that nearly 5,600 people on the voter rolls in Virginia were deemed as non-citizens, with a third of them voting in previous elections.â€
This summer, 19 noncitizens were indicted for voting in the 2016 election.
More than 3,000 foreign nationals were removed from voter rolls across 13 sanctuary jurisdictions from 2006 to 2018, most of them in Virginia.
In 2016, North Carolina saw hundreds of instances of double voting, voter impersonation, and noncitizen voting.
Bexar County in Texas, which contains San Antonio, concealed records of noncitizen voting.
Meantime, nearby Harris County (Houston), refused to allow inspection of voter rolls.
Charges of election fraud and fraudulent application for ballot by mail were leveled at Erika Lozano-Pelayo of Starr County is located west of McAllen, Texas. Starr County is one of 13 counties reporting more than 100% voter registration. At the same time, Ernestina Barron was arrested on three counts of election fraud, and three counts of a fraudulent application for ballot by mail.
5,500 noncitizens discovered on Virginia voter rolls.
In 2015, 141 U.S. counties were found to have more registered voters than people.
7.2 million voters are registered in multiple states.
In 2016, in Marion County, Indiana, 12 employees of a Democratic-linked voter recruitment organization were caught submitting fake voter registration applications.
Rhode Island was found to have 150,000 names in voter rolls which should not have been there.
A 2017 report showed that at minimum, there were 45,000 duplicate voters in 2016.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation reported that there are more than 100,000 non-U.S. citizens are registered voters in Pennsylvania.
In 2018, California’s DMV admitted registering 1,500 foreigners to vote in U.S. elections.
Habersham County, Georgia’s Mud Creek precinct had 276 registered voters, yet 670 votes were cast in a May 2018 primary.
In 2018, a volunteer for the Beto campaign urged followers to transport undocumented aliens to the polls.
Again in 2018 in California, there were 23,000 California DMV voter-registration failures.
In 2018, a number of Democratic-controlled cities (San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, and others) opened up voting rights to illegal aliens. In fact, San Francisco spent $385,000 to help 61 noncitizens vote illegally.
The gadfly Project Veritas filmed a Hispanic poll voter telling someone to bring in illegals to vote. The individual has not been arrested.
And speaking of being filmed, Florida Democratic Party attorney Leonard Samuels, declared that destroying ballots is not fraud.
In 2017, Jonathan Marks, commissioner for Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Commissions, Elections, and Legislation, confirmed that noncitizens had voted hundreds of times in elections.
In 2010, two Democratic officials in Michigan, Jason Bauer and Mike McGuinness, conspired to defraud the election. They were given a slap on the wrist when caught.
In California, 194 people voted more than once in the 2016 presidential primary. None were arrested.
In Hialeah in 2012, Deisy Penton de Cabrera was found with numerous ballots that didn’t belong to her. The ballots she had belonged to elderly people, most of whom were blind, deaf, or had Alzheimer’s.
In Arkansas, Former Democratic State Rep. Hudson Hallum, his father, and a few campaign workers altered ballots and were caught and arrested.
The Los Angeles County Registrar dismissed accusations of ballot miscounting in the 2018 election.
Keep in mind also that these are just a tiny portion of detected transgressions. How many more illegal acts have occurred that have gone unnoticed? After all,voting illegally is child’s play, with no checks and balances and a minimum of negative repercussions. Since Republican voters are almost always the victim and the Republican Party is without doubt the Stupid Party, this stomach-churning travesty will continue.
Kye,
Your Gish Gallop is mostly Fake News!
But it’s the fake news you claim that’s the news of record, so it must be true.
Each incident is verified. Look them up. The only Fake News is how leftists insist there is no vote fraud yet refuse to have voter ID. If there’s no fraud Id won’t matter, will it? BTW, I know there’s vote fraud because decades ago when I was a good democrat I participated in it so don’t tell me about something I did.
Look them up.
No thanks, it’s your job. Verified, my butt. Fake News.
there’s vote fraud because decades ago when I was a good democrat I participated in it
And you’re an admitted traitor and criminal, so why should we trust you on anything? What other crimes against America have you committed?
No, it’s that network news you claim is the mainstream. Can’t have it both ways.
And you’re an admitted traitor
Are you really that intellectually lazy you refuse to look up something easily found?
But I’m glad to see you admit vote fraud is a crime against America, even if committed by Demos, and that we shouldn’t trust you on anything because you lie so much.
Nice try attempting to duck the fact Kye admits he was a Democrat when he did it, so it only proves you refuse to admit the Demos can only win by vote fraud and you are aware of and approve of their crimes, so it makes you complicit in them.
For those interested, to go with true debt figures in the 90s and the Dow in the ’10s, real unemployment peaked at 17.5 while Zippy was in and never went below 10.
Current unemployment is 3.7
All you do is lie. More Fake News. With bullshit on top.
How desperate is the far-right that they always have to lie?
Jeff,
Everyone here, but you, tried to establish the truth. You on the other hand consistently lie. The question is why?? Your climate religion is destroyed as a result of truths that have finally come to surface. Your desire for world communism has been stopped by Trump, the French and the growing realization of the climate scam. Obama care has finally been found unconstitutional and is gone, it was a lie. The Russian Hoax is exposed. The Dems did horrible in the midterms.
You are only left with your hate and lashing out at everyone. Get some help, you are ill.
davey,
Just to reiterate: Homey Don’t Play Dat! Buh bye.
Jeff,
Another way of saying you won. Winning. MAGA.
First, you never iterated it. Second, you’re about as much a homie as Barry Soetero.
All you are is a Commie apparatchik who betrays his people. You also admit you’re an apparatchik who isn’t very good at it.
Not fake news. US government data.
Or are you claiming only the fake global warming sites are accurate?
That’s paranoia.
Must suck to be you.