Conflicting noises appear to be emerging from the White House. While Donald Trump has remained insistent that he wouldn’t succumb to the Democratic pressure of forcing him to show his tax returns, his Chief of Staff has different ideas.
Despite calls for Trump to release his tax returns since he first announced his nomination, he has failed to produce them, becoming the first president in four decades to do so. In the beginning, Trump cited an audit as being the reason for his failure to show his tax returns, but now he simply refuses to release them anyway.
Last week, the Democrat-led House Ways and Means Committee requested that Trump turn over his personal and business dealings with the IRS over the last six years. Trump is unlikely to acquiesce to their demands, however.
His Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, seemed to suggest during an appearance on Fox News Sunday that Donald Trump is open to releasing his tax returns, but would likely not do it because the Democrats are asking for it. He first claimed that the Democratic pressure was a gimmick, before claiming Trump could “always allow” Americans to see his tax returns, reports Newsweek .
“If they don’t get what they want in the Mueller report, they’re going to ask for the taxes,” Mulvaney said.
“If they don’t get what they want in the taxes, they’re going to ask for something else. It doesn’t surprise anybody.”
But when told that being under audit was no reason for Trump not to turn over his tax documents by fill-in host Bill Hemmer, Mulvaney suggested that Trump wouldn’t mind showing them, but wouldn’t do so — to spite the Democrats.
“You could always allow people to see it. But that’s not what’s happening. The Democrats are demanding the IRS turn over the documents, and that is not going to happen, and they know it.”
NEW: WH chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says on Fox that Dems will “never” see Trump’s tax returns https://t.co/mMVIxq1jAa
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) April 7, 2019
As a last line of defense, Mulvaney claimed that Americans had no interest in seeing Trump’s tax returns because it was “already litigated” during his 2016 presidential campaign, according to Politico . Claiming that people electing him despite Trump not releasing his tax returns was a sign of people not being interested, Mulvaney once again blamed the Democrats for creating an issue where none existed.
“Keep in mind: That’s an issue that was already litigated during the election. Voters knew the president could have given his tax returns. They knew that he didn’t, and they elected him anyway — which, of course, is what drives the Democrats crazy,” Mulvaney said.