Fox News Analyst: Trump Has No Defense Against Tax Return Request

An angry and defensive Judge Andrew Napolitano (Chief Legal Analyst for Fox News) made an appearance on television this morning strongly criticizing Congressional Democrats for requesting President Donald Trump’s tax returns.

But he also said that Trump’s claims that his returns are under audit by the IRS are no defense against complying with the request, made under the authority of a little-used law passed in 1924.

The official request, made by Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the chairman of the House Means and Ways Committee, gave Trump until April 10 to produce the tax returns requested.

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Napolitano pointed out that Trump said, when asked about the Democrat’s request by reporters, that he would not be able to comply because they are being audited by the IRS. Even if that is true (and it may not be) the former judge made perfectly clear that it would NOT give the president a legal excuse for failing to comply with the law.

“I don’t know what the argument can be. I understand the president is under an audit. That’s private. If he is under audit he knows it the public doesn’t know it, that would not be a defense,” Napolitano said on Fox & Friends, and then added:

“I’m sure this is going to end up in the court because Mnuchin is not going to release it voluntarily. Even though the statute states the Secretary of the Treasury must hand them over.”

“The other argument is he is a human being. He is a taxpayer. He has the same privacy rights as the rest of us. Again, as I said, they did this to Donald Trump, they can do this to any of us.”

During the interview, Napolitano did not mention the concerns of ethical watchdogs that Trump has violated the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution by entering into business transactions for private gain while also serving as president.

Chairman Neal sent his letter to the Internal Revenue Service, and gave them just seven days to respond. This puts the IRS in the center of a major dispute between Congress and the Trump administration.

Neal explained his actions in public statement last night:

“Congress, as a coequal branch of government, has a duty to conduct oversight of departments and officials.”

“The Ways and Means Committee in particular has a responsibility to conduct oversight of our voluntary federal tax system and determine how Americans — including those elected to our highest office — are complying with those laws.”

The Washington Post reported that Trump has no plans to allow the IRS to turn over his tax returns:

“Privately, Trump has told White House advisers that he does not plan to hand over his tax returns to Congress — and that he would fight the issue to the Supreme Court, hoping to stall it until after the 2020 election, according to two administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the conversations.”

“Treasury officials will not comply with the request until they are compelled to do so, the officials said.”

If Judge Napolitano is correct, Donald Trump will lose in court. He truly has no defense for not turning over his tax returns, and everybody knows it — even Fox News.

The only questions now are:

• how long will it take for Trump to lose the legal battle, and
• how will all of this play out in the court of public opinion?

The chances are very good that Donald Trump will lose everything before this high-stakes drama comes to an end.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.