Trump Sues Congressional Committee and NY State Officials Over Taxes

President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C. to prevent the disclosure of his tax returns. The suit is against the House Ways and Means Committee, New York State Attorney General Letitia James, and New York State Department of Taxation and Finance Michael Schmidt.  According to Jay Sekulow, an attorney representing President President the suit seeks a series of injunctions and restraining orders:

We have filed a lawsuit today in our ongoing efforts to end presidential harassment. The targeting of the President by the House Ways and Means Committee, the New York Attorney General, and a New York tax official violates Article 1 of the US Constitution. The harassment tactics lack a legitimate legislative purpose. The actions taken by the House and New York officials are nothing more than political retribution.

CNN reports that in two other suits Trump has tried to block the House Intelligence Committee, the House Oversight Committee and the House Financial Services Committee from obtaining his financial records from certain financial firms. In those cases judges have sided with Congress, saying the committees have broad authority to pursue investigations. Trump has appealed both court decisions.

After the U.S. Treasury Department refused to turn over the Presidents’ tax records New York State enacted a law that allows Congressional lawmakers to obtain Trump’s state tax returns. According to the new lawsuit, the New York legislators admitted that the  purpose of the new law was to help the Committee expose the President’s private tax information for political gain.

President’s new lawsuit claims that the President is entitled to relief because the Ways and Means Committee’s jurisdiction is limited to federal taxes, and no legislation could possibly result from a request for the President’s state tax returns.

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