N.Y. tax returns

Judge: Democrats must give Trump ‘contemporaneous’ notice if they seek his N.Y. tax returns

The judge rejected the White House request for advance notice.

By BRIAN FALER and TOBY ECKERT

A federal judge late Monday ordered House Democrats to notify President Donald Trump contemporaneously if they seek his state tax returns from New York, and barred the Democrats from receiving any records for 14 days after a request so the court can decide whether it's lawful.

D.C. District Judge Carl Nichols rejected Trump's request for advance notice from Democrats if they decide to use a recently passed New York law to obtain the president's state returns.

Nichols said his ruling would "place this matter in roughly the same procedural posture as the typical subpoena case, while treading as lightly as possible on the separation of powers and Speech or Debate Clause concerns raised by" House Ways and Means Committee Democrats.

The order came several hours after the Democrats volunteered to alert Trump if they seek his state tax returns under the New York law. The offer came in response to a push from Nichols for a compromise in the dispute over the law.

The so-called TRUST Act allows the chairs of three congressional tax committees to obtain Trump's state returns upon request, and doesn't require any advance notice of the move.

Trump lawyer William Consovoy had urged Nichols, a Trump appointee, to require either Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) or New York officials to give him two weeks' notice of any request for the returns. Consovoy still wants to challenge any request but fears Democrats could obtain the president’s records without notice — making such an effort moot.

But Democrats balked, saying the court doesn’t have the power to bind the tax committee because lawmakers’ legislative activities are protected by the Constitution.

Searching for a compromise, Nichols asked Neal’s lawyers in a hearing Monday if they would instead volunteer the information.

Neal has demonstrated little interest in the New York law. But Consovoy fears that could suddenly change, especially if Democrats’ other suits for Trump’s federal returns and other financial records are not successful.