Dems push back on White House suggesting they’re ‘not smart enough’ for Trump’s tax returns

Several Democratic members of Congress hit back at White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s contention Sunday that House members were not “smart enough” to assess President Trump’s tax returns.

“If we are not smart enough to understand them, we will send them back,” tweeted Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), who frequently uses social media to criticize the Trump administration. “Pinky promise. I am smart enough to understand @realDonaldTrump is gutting preexisting conditions coverage.

Dear @PressSec Sarah Sanders: How about sending us the tax returns of @POTUS as required by law. If we are not smart enough to understand them, we will send them back. Pinky promise.

I am smart enough to understand @realDonaldTrump is gutting preexisting conditions coverage. https://t.co/gDZu1Dubli

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) April 14, 2019

{mosads}“Our freshman class includes intelligence analysts, nurses, veterans, and – ahem – law professors,” Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) tweeted. “I think we can handle it.” Porter is a tenured professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law and sits on the Committee on Financial Services.

Our freshman class includes intelligence analysts, nurses, veterans, and – ahem – law professors. I think we can handle it. https://t.co/XORMWW8dEd

— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) April 14, 2019

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) tweeted, “There’s an old saying. When the law is on your side, pound the law. When the facts are on your side, pound the facts. If neither the facts or law are on your side, pound the table. And then there’s whatever this is.”

There’s an old saying.

When the law is on your side, pound the law.

When the facts are on your side, pound the facts.

If neither the facts or law are on your side, pound the table.

And then there’s whatever this is. https://t.co/INukgddrg7

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) April 14, 2019

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) simply tweeted “Try us.”

Try us. https://t.co/xQFIYnhAhd

— Rep. Diana DeGette (@RepDianaDeGette) April 14, 2019

Sanders made the comment to Fox News’ Chris Wallace in response to House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal’s (D-Mass.) request for Trump’s tax returns.

“I don’t think Congress — particularly not this group of congressmen and women — are smart enough to look through the thousands of pages that I would assume that President Trump’s taxes will be,” she said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“My guess is that most of them don’t do their own taxes, and I certainly don’t trust them to look through the decades of success that the president has and determine anything,” she added.

Trump has repeatedly claimed an ongoing audit prevents him from releasing his tax returns and claimed “the people don’t care” about seeing them. A recent Morning Consult/Politico poll indicated voters support the release of Trump’s tax returns by 51 percent to 36 percent.