WASHINGTON (CN) – Contradicting reported IRS policy about its obligation to provide such information, Treasury Department Secretary Steve Mnuchin told Congress Wednesday that he will not release the president’s tax returns to keep on the right side of the law.
“I’ve been advised that I am not,” Mnuchin said, when asked by Representative Alma Adams if he was aware that he was in violation of the law by denying their request.
“I never would have done anything to violate the law,” Mnuchin said. “Again, I have been advised that had I turned them over, I would be violating the law.”
Calling it clear the case is “going to litigation,” Mnuchin appeared before the House Committee on Financial Services this morning ostensibly for a hearing on the health of international finance.
The meeting was quickly dominated, however, by an internal IRS memo first reported Tuesday night by the Washington Post. The article describes the memo as saying that Mnuchin must show “returns, and return information, requested by the tax-writing chairs” of Congressional committees, and that the disclosure of tax returns to Congress is “mandatory.”
The only reason the IRS could refuse to hand over the records would be if executive privilege was invoked, the memo reportedly states.
Mnuchin told Representative Jennifer Wexton, a Virginia Democrat, that he only became aware of the memo when the Washington Post contacted him on Monday.
“We confirmed that I and IRS commissioner [Charles Rettig] were not aware of the letter and had not seen it,” Mnuchin said of the discussion with the Post, adding that he was unsure who the author was, when it was written or why it was not brought to his attention first.
The secretary also said he only reviewed a copy of the draft memo on his way to Wednesday’s hearing.
“In your May 17 letter to Chairman Neal, you rely on advice from the Department of Justice saying the request lacked legitimate legislative purpose,” Wexton said, referring to Representative Richard Neal of the House Ways and Means Committee. “But we’re the legislative branch. We make decisions about legislating.”
“I understand there are three branches of government,” Mnuchin said.
“And you are the executive branch, which executes the laws,” Wexton said. “You don’t make the laws. We make the laws.”
In response to whether he believed the memo was accurate, Mnuchin told the congresswoman that he and Rettig “relied on legal advice” from the DOJ to reach his conclusion.
Representative Adams, a North Carolina Democrat, told Mnuchin she was “losing her patience” with the president, who has offered to produce his tax returns publicly at least 24 times.
“Don’t you think the American people have a right to know?” Adams said.
“No, I don’t,” Mnuchin said. “Presidents are not required to turn them over. The American people knew he didn’t release them before they voted for him.”
The secretary also said he did not believe Trump was “hiding” anything, and he denied any involvement in the president’s decision-making about releasing the documents.
Congressional oversight authority for such records is found in the U.S. Constitution, within many public laws and can also be found in the House and Senate rules, Adams said.
“I’ve read the law and I have been advised of the interpretation of the law and understand the constitutional issues,” Mnuchin said.
The secretary claimed further that he has been counseled from the Department of Justice that he would then be breaking the law if he complied with the House Ways and Means committee request.
Representative Lance Gooden, a Texas Republican, remarked that Democrats were “obsessed” with the president’s tax returns and asked Mnuchin if he thought there was any reason lawmakers should believe the IRS was not “doing its job” when it came to conducting a proper audit of the president’s taxes.