Trump, New York, Ways and Means unable to reach agreement in tax return lawsuit

The parties in a lawsuit concerning President Trump’s New York state tax returns said in a court filing Tuesday that they were unable to reach an agreement about how the case should proceed.

The court filing comes one day after a federal judge in D.C. ordered the parties — Trump, the House Ways and Means Committee and two New York officials — to try to reach a deal in order to prevent the case from becoming moot.{mosads}

Trump filed a lawsuit last week in his capacity as a private citizen challenging a new New York law that allows the chairmen of Congress’s tax committees to request public officials’ state tax returns from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) has not yet requested Trump’s state tax returns and has not yet decided if he will do so.

Trump also filed an emergency motion last week, asking the court to bar Neal from requesting his state tax returns until he can be heard in court. The Ways and Means Committee objected to this request, arguing that the panel’s decision about whether to use the New York law is protected from legal challenges under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause.

At a hearing on Monday, Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, directed the parties in the lawsuit to try to reach an agreement that ensures Trump’s claims don’t become moot before they can be litigated, treads lightly on constitutional concerns and would have the case adjudicated only when more information becomes available.

In a joint status report filed Tuesday, the parties said they were unable to reach an agreement “notwithstanding their best efforts.” They then laid out their respective positions in the document.

Trump floated two options for how the case should proceed.

The first is that the court could order the Ways and Means Committee to give the court and the other parties in the lawsuit at least 14 days notice before requesting the president’s New York tax returns. The second is that the court could order the New York officials to provide notification if the Ways and Means Committee requests Trump’s state tax returns and then wait at least 14 days before complying with the request.

The Ways and Means Committee argued that the court should reject Trump’s emergency motion. The committee stated that it “does not oppose temporary relief that would not require the Committee’s continued involvement in this case.”

The New York officials argued that the federal district court in D.C. doesn’t have jurisdiction over them and is the wrong venue for the lawsuit. The officials requested that the court consider these arguments on an expedited schedule. If the court is willing to do so, the officials said they would agree to defer providing Trump’s tax returns to the Ways and Means Committee until one week after the court makes a ruling.