Release stopped for now
Supreme Court grants Trump stay of tax filing
11/01/2022, 5:40 p.m
The Supreme Court jumps to the side of ex-President Donald Trump – at least for the time being. The US Supreme Court halted the release of its tax records to the House Committee at the last minute. Previously, Trump had tried in lower instances to prevent disclosure.
The US Supreme Court has stopped the release of former President Donald Trump’s tax documents to a House committee. At Trump’s request, the chairman of the court, John Roberts, ordered the disclosure of the documents by the tax authority IRS to be stopped for the time being.
Trump’s lawyers had filed an urgent petition with the US Supreme Court to prevent the release at the last minute. The Congressional Committee now has until November 10 to respond to the motion. An appeals court in Washington last week cleared the way for Trump’s tax records to be released to the committee. They should have been handed over from this Thursday.
In recent years, Trump has opposed lower instances of Congress gaining insight into his tax affairs. Contrary to usual practice in the United States, real estate entrepreneur Trump did not make his tax returns public either as a presidential candidate or after moving into the White House. And to this day he tries to prevent disclosure. Critics therefore suspect that he has something to hide.
The only option left was to go to the Supreme Court
The Treasury Department of Trump’s successor Joe Biden’s administration instructed the IRS last year to hand over the documents to the committee. Trump fought back in court and eventually applied to the Court of Appeals in Washington to stop it. The court rejected this in a first round in August. Trump then requested a re-examination, which was then also rejected last week. That left him to go to the Supreme Court.
On November 8th a new House of Representatives will be elected in the USA. Should Republicans win a majority in the Congress Chamber, Trump could hope that the committee, under new leadership, will refrain from requesting the documents. The new Congress will meet in early January 2023. Trump is currently struggling with a number of legal problems – including taking secret government documents to his private estate after leaving the White House.