Trump’s lawyers seek clarity about how tax-return case will proceed following Biden inauguration

President Trump’s personal lawyers requested that a federal judge schedule a teleconference to discuss how a lawsuit about House Democrats’ request for Trump’s tax returns will proceed during the new administration and Congress.

In a motion filed Tuesday evening, hours before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, Trump’s lawyers expressed concerns that the new administration could provide House Democrats with the outgoing president’s tax returns without giving Trump advance notice.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) in 2019 issued requests and subpoenas to the Treasury Department and the IRS for Trump’s personal and business federal tax returns. After the Trump administration rejected those efforts, the Ways and Means Committee filed a lawsuit against Treasury and the IRS. The case has yet to be resolved.

Trump and his businesses are participating in the case as intervenor-defendants. Lawyers for Trump and his businesses said in their filing on Tuesday that the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is representing Treasury and the IRS, could reconsider its position about a request for Trump’s tax returns in the new administration. Trump’s lawyers also noted that Neal’s requests expired when the previous Congress ended earlier this month and would have to be renewed if he wants to continue to seek Trump’s tax returns.

“All of this raises the possibility that a renewed request from the Committee might be satisfied without giving Intervenor-Defendants notice or an opportunity to be heard on their legal objections,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.

Trump’s lawyers said that the Ways and Means Committee’s lawyers declined to disclose to them if Neal plans to renew the request. Neal, however, has told reporters that he plans to renew his effort.

The DOJ said in a statement to Trump’s lawyers that it can’t speculate on how the Biden administration would handle a request for Trump’s tax returns but that it would not object to a temporary order, lasting up to two weeks, that would require Trump’s lawyers to be given 72 hours notice before his tax returns are released, according to the court filing.

Trump’s lawyers asked Judge Trevor McFadden, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., appointed by Trump, to schedule a teleconference in which the parties in the case would discuss whether the Ways and Means Committee plans to renew its request for Trump’s tax returns, whether the committee and DOJ would agree to not disclose Trump’s tax returns until the courts reach a decision on Trump’s claims, and whether McFadden should issue relief that prevents Trump’s claims from becoming moot before they are adjudicated.

McFadden late Tuesday scheduled the status conference for Friday afternoon.

– updated at 9:22 p.m.