New York tax returns

Trump wants restraining order to keep his New York tax returns away from Democrats

By TOBY ECKERT

President Donald Trump’s attorneys asked a federal judge Wednesday to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the House’s top tax writer from asking New York officials to turn over the president’s state tax returns.

Trump filed suit in the District of Columbia on Tuesday to keep House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) from taking advantage of a New York law that would give him access to the state returns upon request. New York officials are also named in the suit. But Trump's attorneys said Wednesday they fear Neal could ask for the returns before the case proceeds.

“The President is in an intolerable situation: If he seeks relief after the Chairman requests his state tax returns, the returns might be disclosed before he can be heard in court,” Trump’s attorney argued in a U.S. District Court filing. “At the same time, immediate judicial review could force the Court to prematurely decide constitutional issues that might otherwise be avoided.”

It’s another volley in the tug-of-war between Trump and Democrats who are bent on getting ahold of his tax returns, which he has refused to release voluntarily. Neal has asked a federal court to order the administration to give him six years’ worth of Trump’s returns under a federal law that allows the chairs of Congress’s tax committees to obtain anyone’s confidential tax information.

Both Neal's case and Trump's are assigned to Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee.

After the administration refused to honor a subpoena by Neal for Trump's federal returns, New York enacted a law that would allow officials there to turn over his state returns to Ways and Means and two other congressional committees with jurisdiction over tax issues at the request of their respective chairs. The state returns would likely include some information that's also on Trump's federal forms, but Neal has been hesitant to use the authority, indicating that using it could undermine his bid for the federal returns.

But that could change, Trump’s attorneys argued Wednesday, citing pressure on Neal from progressive groups who are impatient with him, statements from other Democrats about the possibility of using the New York law, and the fact that Neal himself hasn’t completely ruled it out.

The attorneys said the restraining order should remain in place until Neal notifies Trump and the court that he intends to seek the president’s state returns from New York and the court rules on its legality.

The suit filed by Trump on Tuesday argues that Democrats lack a legitimate reason for seeking Trump’s New York returns “because the committee’s jurisdiction is limited to federal taxes, no legislation could possibly result from a request for the president’s state tax returns.”

The suit also argues the New York law violates the First Amendment of the Constitution because it was enacted “to discriminate and retaliate against President Trump for his speech and politics.”