Some liberal Democratic lawmakers are urging their colleagues to demand President Donald Trump’s business tax returns, Politico is reporting.
The move comes as top Democratic lawmakers prepare to request Trump’s personal tax returns. Democrats are planning to use a nearly century-old statute in an attempt to get his returns.
However, the president has more than 500 partnerships and other types of business, Politico said citing Trump’s financial disclosures. Each of the entities is likely to have its own tax filing.
And Politico said the business returns are more likely to indicate conflicts of interest and other possible malfeasance the Democrats are looking to uncover.
Some of the liberals want House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., to probe everything with Trump’s name on it in the hope of discovering criminal actions. But that could prove unmanageable.
“Strategically, you’re better off with a narrow, well-targeted first request,” said John Buckley, a former longtime Democratic tax aide on the Ways and Means Committee. “The first request doesn’t mean that’s all you’re ever going to ask for.
"'We’re going to get there, we’re just not going to get there in one step’ — that’s what Neal needs to say.”
Meanwhile, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is urging all 2020 presidential candidates to release their tax returns for the past 10 years. So far only Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. have done so.
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