Trump sues House Ways and Means panel to block disclosure of his tax returns

[pnwmom]

Source: CNBC

President Donald Trump on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the Democrat-led House Ways and Means Committee, as well as New York state’s attorney general and its tax chief, to block the disclosure of years of his tax returns.

The president’s lawsuit, which was filed “in his capacity as a private citizen,” came less than a month after the Ways and Means Committee sued the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to obtain Trump’s federal returns.

Trump’s new legal action intervenes in that suit, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

Trump’s lawyers argue that the House panel “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose” to use a recently passed New York state law to get Trump’s returns. They also claim that that state law violated the president’s First Amendment rights, because it was enacted to “discriminate and retaliate against President Trump for his speech and politics.”

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/23/trump-sues-house-ways-and-means-panel-to-block-disclosure-of-his-tax-returns.html?fbclid=IwAR3S7vkb6xKJJ8q_mz1oTiF-86hXaiugegZvCDliR4UNyZ1AEXe6nfT5vqE

[Iliyah]

1. What horseshit , , ,

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Why on earth did @RepRichardNeal of @WaysMeansCmte vacillate so publicly and ineffectually about....

Could it be that @RepRichardNeal is way out of his league? His ineptitude is painfully evident. @SpeakerPelosi needs to replace him on @WaysMeansCmte — soon!

Link to tweet

Why on earth did @RepRichardNeal of @WaysMeansCmte vacillate so publicly and ineffectually about whether to invoke the TRUST Act to obtain Trump's tax returns, thus creating a litigation risk that Trump has now taken advantage of?

Link to tweet

Trump sues House Ways and Means panel to block disclosure of his tax returns

PUBLISHED 2 HOURS AGO UPDATED MOMENTS AGO
Kevin Breuninger
@KEVINWILLIAMB

KEY POINTS

• President Trump filed a lawsuit against the House Ways and Means Committee, the New York state’s attorney general and tax chief to block the disclosure of years of his tax returns.
• The president’s lawsuit came less than a month after the Ways and Means Committee sued the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to obtain Trump’s federal returns. Trump’s new legal action intervenes in that suit.
• Trump has refused to show his tax documents, despite a longstanding tradition among modern presidential candidates to disclose their returns.

[Ohiogal]

3. C'mon, Donnie

If you’re as innocent as you claim to be, why all the effort towards keeping anyone from seeing your tax returns?

The First Amendment excuse sounds like total BS to me.

[jberryhill]

4. poorly-written headline

The lawsuit was filed by the House Ways and Means Committee against the IRS to disclose Trump's return.

Trump and his companies have filed to intervene as interested parties in that suit, and have been permitted to do so:

07/17/2019 11 NOTICE of Appearance by William S. Consovoy on behalf of DONALD J. TRUMP, THE DONALD J. TRUMP REVOCABLE TRUST, DJT HOLDINGS LLC, DJT HOLDINGS MANAGING MEMBER, LLC, DTTM OPERATIONS LLC, DTTM OPERATIONS MANAGING MEMBER CORP., LFB ACQUISITION LLC, LFB ACQUISITION MEMBER CORP., LAMINGTON FARM CLUB, LLC D/B/A TRUMP NATIONAL GOLF CLUB-BEDMINSTER (Consovoy, William) (Entered: 07/17/2019)

07/17/2019 12 Unopposed MOTION to Intervene by DTTM OPERATIONS LLC, DJT HOLDINGS LLC, DJT HOLDINGS MANAGING MEMBER, LLC, DTTM OPERATIONS MANAGING MEMBER CORP., LAMINGTON FARM CLUB, LLC D/B/A TRUMP NATIONAL GOLF CLUB-BEDMINSTER, LFB ACQUISITION LLC, LFB ACQUISITION MEMBER CORP., THE DONALD J. TRUMP REVOCABLE TRUST, DONALD J. TRUMP (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order)(Consovoy, William) (Entered: 07/17/2019)

07/18/2019 13 LCvR 26.1 CERTIFICATE OF DISCLOSURE of Corporate Affiliations and Financial Interests by DTTM OPERATIONS LLC, DJT HOLDINGS MANAGING MEMBER, LLC, DTTM OPERATIONS MANAGING MEMBER CORP., LAMINGTON FARM CLUB, LLC D/B/A TRUMP NATIONAL GOLF CLUB-BEDMINSTER, LFB ACQUISITION LLC, LFB ACQUISITION MEMBER CORP. (Consovoy, William) (Entered: 07/18/2019)

07/18/2019 14 ORDER granting 12 Unopposed Motion to Intervene. Upon consideration of the Proposed Defendant-Intervenors' 12 Motion to Intervene, it is hereby ordered that the motion is granted. The Clerk of Court shall add the movants as Intervenor-Defendants to the case. See attached Order for further details. Signed by Judge Trevor N. McFadden on 07/18/2019. (lctnm2) (Entered: 07/18/2019)

Not particularly surprising really.

[pnwmom]

6. Aren't there two different lawsuits? First, the House Ways and Means against the IRS.

And second, the lawsuit filed by Trump.

The president’s lawsuit, which was filed “in his capacity as a private citizen,” came less than a month after the Ways and Means Committee sued the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to obtain Trump’s federal returns.

[jberryhill]

12. Ah, poorly written article instead

The piece is contradictory, since the headline refers to a lawsuit, but the article refers to seeking to intervene - which are two different things.

The DC District already granted the intervenor status in the original case:

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15868028/committee-on-ways-and-means-united-states-house-of-representatives-v/

The Duane Morely Cox motion to intervene is a hoot, if you like to read "insane shit people file in courts".

But, okay, yes, this new complaint is superfluous to that grant of intervenor status, and I can't even quite wrap my head around why the DC District would have jurisdiction over the part of it which is seeking to enjoin the NY AG and the NY tax commissioner from providing records to the Committee pursuant to a NY state law. That part of it would, in my first guess, need to be litigated elsewhere.

[pnwmom]

14. Yes! Unless it's purely for PR purposes, why would they file suit in the DC district

seeking to enjoin the NY AG and tax commissioner?

[jberryhill]

15. You never win if you don't try

[onenote]

21. The suit also seeks an inunction against the Committee.

The requested relief is as follows:


A declaratory judgment that the Committee lacks a legitimate legislative purpose for obtaining the President’s state tax information; .

A permanent injunction prohibiting the Committee from making a written request under the TRUST Act, or taking any other action to request, inspect, review, use, maintain, or disclose the President’s state tax information;

A declaratory judgment that the TRUST Act violates the First Amendment;

A permanent injunction prohibiting the Attorney General from enforcing the TRUST Act;

A permanent injunction prohibiting the Commissioner from complying with any written request under the TRUST Act, or from taking any other action to disclose the President’s state tax information;

A temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction granting the relief specified above during the pendency of this action;

[mahatmakanejeeves]

19. I see.

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.208895/gov.uscourts.dcd.208895.10.0.pdf

I've reached the part where their stock dividends had been cut. Thanks for nothing, Obama! Now, with Trump in office, they have been able to replace their old car.

Surprise: this is not his first time at the rodeo:

Religious groups and businesses file briefs in Utah gay marriage case

This article is more than 5 years old

Federal court receives dozens of briefs, including from Google and Catholic bishops, arguing case of same-sex marriage

Associated Press in Salt Lake City

Wed 5 Mar 2014 17.12 EST
....

Duane Morley Cox, a 54-year-old Mormon from a Salt Lake City suburb, sent in a 74-page brief citing passages from the Bible to make his case for upholding the ban. “God’s plan is for man to marry a woman to create offspring (which same-sex couples cannot do), and be married for time and eternity,” Cox wrote.
....

He was actually 74 at the time, unless that's a son with the same name.

[jberryhill]

20. Some people have a hobby of these sorts of things

[captain queeg]

5. Nothing suspicious about that.

He really wants to disclose his tax returns you see. It must be his pesky lawyers scratching at straw to prevent it.

[in2herbs]

7. I still don't understand why/how he has the capacity to sue as a private citizen yet in his

capacity as occupier of the WH he is immune from being sued. A reading of the sections of the lawsuit posted in the article is conflicting as the lawsuit is filed in accordance with Trumps capacity as a private citizen yet the complaint alleges things about Trump in his presidential capacity.

I thought one of the agencies in NY already got a copy of at least his state tax returns, so how come he's just now wanting to stop NY from getting the state tax returns?

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. He's suing as a private person claiming

discrimination as a President?

Would love to hear that discussion in front of a judge.

[TryLogic]

13. Exactly

[benld74]

9. Private Citizens have ZERO chance of successfully suing the Federal Government

[riversedge]

10. It is going to be a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOG year and half until the bigot trump is gone.

[Wuddles440]

11. I realize that...

we always need such hope to survive this nightmare, but I wouldn't bet that he's going to be gone after next year. I'd advise to image the worse case scenario and plan accordingly. The Orange Anus has no intention of vacating his throne and McTurtle, Putin, and company will insure that is the case. Beware.

[cstanleytech]

18. Actually its going to be decades to clean up as he has tainted the courts greatly by a number of

appointments he has made.

[bucolic_frolic]

16. Legitimate Legislative Purpose?

To see what mischief Presidential emoluments and tax evasions involve so Congress can enact laws to combat thievery

If Trump wins this suit every taxpayer will claim immunity from filing because the IRS will lack "Legitimate Taxing Authority" over a private citizen.

Seriously, we need some good attorneys somewhere.

[cstanleytech]

17. Didnt Trump say he would release them after his supposed audit? If so then it should shoot

his attempt to block it now in the foot.

[Enoki33]

22. It's not only what those tax returns will expose, it's also about delaying

that damaging information until after the 2020 election. Evidence the Mueller hearing freak out.

[SWBTATTReg]

23. Ah, the executive branch trying to impose restrictions on the Congressional branch of govt, ...

and its' oversight duties, won't fly.

[0rganism]

24. the Trump strategy: tie it up in court and run out the clock

in 6 months the 2020 campaigns will be well underway and Trump can suck all the oxygen out of the room with his proto-nazi rallies, after which very few people will give half a shit about his tax returns. if he does something nasty and atrocious each and every day, of which he's proven himself more than capable, he can push anything about court proceedings with a House committee out of the news cycle.

thus we the people get sucked into bickering over "was it racist?" and "how racist was it?" while Trumpy & friends get away with large-scale crimes.

it might not work, but it's their plan as far as i can tell.

[atreides1]

28. The Fred Trump strategy!!

Once again Don the Con, proves that he can't come up with an original idea...and he uses one that was created by a man he hated...

[LiberalLovinLug]

25. But but but he said he was going to release them freely and voluntarily

Its just that damned IRS that has been having a, going on 5 years now, audit on them. Even though its pointed out that an audit does not prevent him from it. But even so, dang that must be one thorough audit.

[DonaldsRump]

26. "What do you have to hide? What do you have to hide?"

Would be nice to have chants like this when Dear Leader appears in public. It actually applies to so many things about him and his "mal-Administration".

[C_U_L8R]

27. If he can sue as a private person

He can be prosecuted as a private person.

[Gothmog]

29. Team Trump files odd new lawsuit to keep his tax returns hidden

This is such a dumb lawsuit http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/team-trump-files-odd-new-lawsuit-keep-his-tax-returns-hidden

Even by Trump World standards, it’s difficult to take the lawsuit seriously. As Jon Chait noted last night, “Reading over the document, it is astonishing to believe its authors attended law school. It should be written in crayon.”

The president’s lawyers argue, for example, that Trump hid his tax returns before the 2016 election; he won anyway; and he’s therefore earned the right to keep his financial materials hidden from scrutiny. Whether one finds this political argument persuasive or not, it’s just that: a political argument.

As a rule, legal filings written by lawyers try to make legal arguments.

The First Amendment claim is even more baffling. Hiding tax materials is directly related to the president’s right to free speech?

Chances are, lawsuits like these are not designed to succeed; they’re designed to delay. The longer Trump’s lawyers can keep legal proceedings going, the better the likelihood that the Republican can get through the 2020 campaign cycle without having to disclose elements of his personal financial history (as every major-party presidential nominee has done since Watergate).