White House spokesman Hogan Gidley on Monday ripped House Democrats’ effort to obtain President Trump’s tax returns, saying that the public and Congress have no right to see them.
“The public has no right to see those,” Gidley said on Fox News. “Congress definitely doesn’t have a right to see the tax returns of a private citizen. But also just think about the precedent that sets.”
“This was already litigated. It didn’t work for [Democrats] then,” Gidley continued, referring to Democrats’ calls for Trump to release his tax returns during the 2016 presidential campaign. “It’s not going to work now. It is an old talking point, it’s never going to work.”
{mosads}House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) last week formally requested Trump’s personal and business tax returns from 2013 to 2018. Neal gave the IRS a Wednesday deadline to turn over the documents.
Trump and White House officials have consistently argued that his taxes cannot be made public because they are under audit. Audits do not prevent individuals from disclosing their own tax information, the IRS has said.
The latest request has been met with fierce opposition from the Trump administration. Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Sunday vowed that Democrats would “never” see Trump’s tax returns.
“Nor should they. That’s an issue that was already litigated during the election. Voters knew the president could have given his tax returns, they knew that he didn’t, and they elected him anyway,” Mulvaney said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Gidley said that Mulvaney was “100 percent correct” on the issue and noted that the president “had to fill out financial disclosure forms when he decided to run for president.”
“People can see those,” Gidley argued. “They’re public. And it will show a couple things. One is the president is very, extremely successful, he’s made a lot of money as a private citizen, but also the fact that he has done nothing wrong.”
Trump said in January 2016 that his team was working on releasing his taxes, but did not give a timeline for making them public. He later said his financial disclosure forms revealed more than his taxes would.
Gidley also slammed Democrats’ efforts to investigate Trump, saying that “no matter what we do, it is never going to be enough.”