Will House Democrats release Donald Trump's tax returns to the public?
A House committee is expected to vote Tuesday afternoon on whether to make public tax returns belonging to former President Donald J. Trump....A rarely used federal law allows the committee to obtain any U.S. taxpayer’s returns. While the statute generally requires lawmakers to keep such information confidential, it also empowers them to make it public by voting to report the material to the full House.
I hope they don't do this. The law allows Congress to demand tax returns for legislative purposes, so that's what they did (citing oversight of the presidential audit program). I think we all understand this was a thin pretext for getting Trump's returns and examining them for fraud, but nonetheless that's the pretext in play. Releasing everything to the public isn't, and there's no legitimate reason to do it.
I'm not naive. If Jim Jordan got hold of something similar he'd leak it in a minute. Hell, he'd make sure to leak just a few out-of-context excerpts that would make his victim look even worse than they are.
But Jim Jordan is an asshole. We don't have to be. Trump has the legal right to keep his tax returns private if he wants to, and we should make it clear that we believe in upholding legitimate legal rights. Vote no, Democrats.
Shorter Kevin: Dems should be the the bigger people... and unilaterally disarm.
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If this sets a precedent that Presidential candidates must release their returns, I'm all for it. Citizens should be able to know these things. It is hardly irrelevant to their decision how to vote.
Kevin in unconvincing here. More to the point, he is wrong.
Yeah, I don't care one bit. All federal elected candidates and officials should be required to make their full returns public, and there should be some level of public disclosure for high level appointed officials too. Just because it isn't the law doesn't mean that the House shouldn't do it.
Also, fuck Trump and fuck Republicans. It's not like Democrats playing nice is going to make them be smaller assholes. On something like this, Democrats should absolutely be assholes back - especially since there's a purpose to it. I'm not saying the ends always justify the means, just that transparency in government is good and holding back just because someone (who also happens to be a notorious tax criminal) technically has the right to tax privacy is the wrong thing to do. Americans deserve to know who their elected officials are in hock to.
Your position undermines the rule of law just as much as anything Trump has done. Releasing private information for the sole purpose of damaging a candidate from the other political party is a crude abuse of power.
"undermines the rule of law just as much as anything Trump has done". Wow, that's quite a stretch! You've just given Trump some comfort for his Jan 6 attempted coup. Etc, etc, etc.
Releasing private information for the purpose of exposing a politically relevant truth is hardly a crude abuse of power. If that truth has the effect of damaging a candidate, well, let the chips fall where they may.
Republicans are hardly limited by what the Democrats do or don't do. We've seen over and over they treat norms the way they treat women and minorities.
Everyone seems to forget though, that Trump wasn't lying about being under "audit" -- investigation sounds like a better word; it isn't a normal audit -- for using tax deductions that are iffy, to the tune of $70 million (IIRC). I'd rather see the Democrats use their time to publicize that and encourage the IRS not to give in.
Here's a NYer piece explaining the NYT's reporting on the "audit". I confess I don't completely understand it.
However, it does seem to me it suggests the value of releasing the tax returns. It seems clear Trump is gaming the system by "finding" losses that reduce the taxes on his gains. I imagine Trump is smart enough to understand his "brand" gains from running a bunch of golf courses which lose money, because he can use those losses to offset money he actually earns from selling his name to Truth Social and what not. It's a genuine public policy issue whether this is good for the economy and the society as a whole. Sure looks like what our tax system does is let the super rich make money in one area, then lose it in another (while getting to play golf and invite friends to the golf course), and then not have to pay taxes. That seems to encourage a lot of money losing activity. Is that good for the society? That's surely a worthwhile question, and having some data on someone using this tactic is well worth being public. Meanwhile, of course I'm immediately wondering if this is what Twitter is to a certain ex-South African...
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/trumps-seventy-three-million-dollar-tax-refund-is-the-biggest-outrage-of-all
+1
Don't you mean "Jim Jordan?"
Officially voting to release them? No, that would be reported by the Times as a partisan move. Accidentally leaving them on a desk so Maggie Haberman can find them? That's how this game is played.
Pretty sure that a reporter wouldn't be able to report on that without being criminally prosecuted.
Yeah I mean it’s not like it’s a laptop full of dick pics that someone just delivered to the NY Post… these are tax returns!
Releasing everything to the public isn't, and there's no legitimate reason to do it
Utter nonsense. Donald J. Trump is an announced candidate for his party's nomination for the presidency. And he has a nontrivial chance of winning that nomination.
There is zero doubt—zero—that a strong public interest exists in shedding some sunlight on this obviously corrupt man's opaque, foreign money-saturated finances.
Then congress should make it a law that candidates need to release their tax returns. It's currently not a requirement so, as Kevin says, there's no legitimate reason for congress to release them.
But there’s also no legitimate reason not to. Kevin’s reason is actually quite a poor one for a couple of obvious reasons. One is that Republicans aren’t constrained by norms and neither are they likely to appreciate Democrats sense of “going high when Republicans go low”.
Another is that every post-Watergate Democratic presidential candidate has faithfully released his or her tax returns.
So you think there’s only value in “going high” if taking that path is reciprocated by your opponent?
Yes, in fact, that’s exactly what I think. Reciprocating behavior is essential to maintaining a system of social or political norms. We’ve seen what happens when one side (the Democrats) adheres to norms regardless of whether other players honor them. Either everyone plays by the rules or nobody does
I don’t think Jesus would agree with that philosophy.
You haven't been keeping up with Jesus,
https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/81682/jesus-wields-machine-gun-crazy-new-iron-sky-coming-race-clip/
He would if he was in politics. Norms are essential for a good society and for a good political system. But if one group is allowed to consistently violate those norms while another group consistently adheres to them, the consequences are ultimately going to be fatal for any civil society.
your argument is obviously logically flawed. the fact that presidential records are not currently required to be released in no way implies there is no legitimate reason for congress to do so. and congress has the legal authority to do so, so voters can decide whether such a release was in the public interest in the next election.
Releasing John Doe's returns is a bad idea.
OTOH, Trump is not John Doe. He is a declared POTUS candidate. Every serious candidate since Nixon has released his returns. Trump should be no different. Give him a week to release or release for him.
It's not a requirement to release them. If a candidate wants to go against the norm and not release them then voters can take that into consideration. Just because you think releasing your tax returns should be a requirement doesn't make it so.
Yes, it's not a legal requirement, but it should be. Until then, Trump should be told: you release or we will.
Eh. I hope Trump is politically and/or legally harmed enough that he can’t or won’t run for President. But I agree with Kevin that this is a petty political attack that serves no greater purpose and would open a Pandora’s box.
would open a Pandora’s box
Uh, what "Pandora's box" might that be? Presidential candidates who don't disclose their tax returns voluntarily having it done by Congress? Quel horreur!
Who said it would be restricted to presidential candidates? I’m all for a law requiring presidential candidates to release tax returns. I think if Dems release Trump’s against his will whatever party is in power will release the tax returns of any politician of relevance of the opposition party.
I’m all for a law requiring presidential candidates to release tax returns.
And I'm all for using an existing law to maintain what, prior to Trump, had become an important norm.
I am sick and tired of the Dems always taking the high road. It's time we play the game as it is, not how we wish it to be.
Trump is running for President. He's not likely to release his returns voluntarily. Why should the Democrats let him get away with that? If he's unwilling to release his returns voluntarily, let the Democrats do it for him.
In general, making someone's tax returns public is not sound public policy. But if you have someone that's spent his life trying to circumvent laws, conventions, standards, ... when the option comes up to return the favor, you have to do it. The operative question: what would Gym Jordan do?
Get away with what? There's absolutely no requirement for candidates to release their tax returns. He wouldn't be "getting away with" anything. If you think he should voluntarily release them then you take take that into consideration when casting your vote.
By the same token, there’s nothing illegal or inappropriate about the Democrats releasing Trump’s tax returns. People would be free to take both the tax returns and the way in which they were released in account.
Maybe. But it’s the difference between one person making a calculated political decision versus all members of a political party in one of the chambers doing something that’s obviously petty and vindictive. But I get what you’re saying.
In general, making someone's tax returns public is not sound public policy.
If those "someones" are presidential candiates, it's hard to imagine a sounder public policy.
Then make it a law.
Why bother with a new law? We already have a law that works fine for this purpose.
If it “works fine” why are we having this debate?
If Dems release Trump's returns it open the spigots. Republicans can point fingers and say, rightly, "they did it first". It's not a matter of being the bigger man. It's preventing another huge breech in everyone's right to privacy.
Because Republicans are going to just make everybody's tax returns public. Sure.
Public officials, including candidates for office, are supposed to be held to a higher standard.
Exactly. So why aren't you holding Dems to a higher standard? It's a pretty low standard if you're saying they should release them for no reason other than to harm a political foe.
How do you know the returns will harm Trump? Maybe they will help. Or maybe they will be so complicated that he can spin it all away.
I think the fact that he spent years fighting the release all the way to the Supreme Court tells us HE thinks they will harm him...
I have no idea. But I assume Dems would only release them if they think it would be damaging to Trump.
Drowning in the crocodile tears Atticus has flooded this site with.
Not crocodile tears. Not for Trump anyway. I hope he’s indicated and can never run again. But I do think releasing the tax returns is a petty political attack and will open the floodgates for similar actions in the future.
Dem presidents have released their returns. We aren't asking to see Mitch McConnell's returns.
Here is the flaw with this reasoning: GOPers are going yo do it if Democrats did it first. They are also going to do it if Dems never did anything like that . Just like stealing Supreme Court seats, stealing elections*, taking hostages over the debt limit and on and on and on.
* Bush v,. Gore; the irony is that nobody knows to this day if they even needed to steal it in 2000; they did it preemptively.
You're ignoring that the GOP are going to do it regardless of whether the democrats do it. You seem to want to ignore that the republicans have dedicated their lives to the service of satan.
Newspapers sponsored an unofficial recount of all of Florida, that showed Gore winning the state. It also showed that if only the counties Gore requested the recounts in had been completed, then Bush would still have won.
Why is this a problem? I actually have no issue with republicans releasing everyone’s tax records. If you’re not committing crimes you have nothing to hide. (Credit reports - which anyone can buy on anyone else - reveal most people’s legitimate income. Nobody shields those from view.)
It’s true that they could release Obama’s tax returns or Clinton’s but what would be the harm in doing so since every Democratic candidate has released his or her tax returns post-Watergate. The only candidates who have tried to get away without releasing their taxes have been Republicans and the only one who has ever outright refused is Trump.
If Dems release Trump's returns it open the spigots. Republicans can point fingers and say, rightly, "they did it first". It's not a matter of being the bigger man. It's preventing another huge breech in everyone's right to privacy.
Yes, it would be terrible if elected officials knew their tax returns would become public.
/s
Vote no on releasing to the public. Let the Senate have them, as well as DOJ. If the Dems do release, everyone that Jordan dislikes will have theirs outed.
There is literally zero reason to think that not releasing the info will affect whether or not Jordan wants to release the tax records of others.
The democrats not organizing a coup didn't appear to impact the decision by many Republicans to support a coup.
The democrats not investigating Trumps kids and posting naked pictures of his kids didn't appear to stop the Republicans from taking these actions.
Let's learn from history.
+1
"Trump has the legal right to keep his tax returns private"
No. The House committee has the legal right to make them public, therefore Trump does not have a legal right to keep them private. It's simple.
Now if you want to talk about "upholding norms" and so on have at it, but then we're right back to you being naive.
Exactly.
The house would need a compelling reason to release them. There is no such compelling reason.
The compelling reason is that Trump is a declared candidate and the voters are entitled to see his returns to see they reflect on his candidacy.
What makes you think they are entitled to see his returns? That is false. There is nothing that entitles voters to see tax returns of candidates.
I believe this has already been fully litigated and there are no remaining legal obstacles to the committee releasing them.
There’s no such requirement in the law. There’s a norm. But it seems to me that those who want to benefit from norms need to abide by them, at least occasionally.
No. The House committee has the legal right to make them public, therefore Trump does not have a legal right to keep them private. It's simple.
Exactly this. The law existed long before Trump arrived on the scene. Don't want your finances in the public spotlight? Don't run for president.
As I see it
1) If Trump committed tax fraud then, similar to any other American, use the justice system.
2) If you want to require all Presidential candidates to release their tax forms then pass a law.
Thus, no the Democrats should not release the Trump taxes. Further, yes there is always a risk that a Republican (or future Democrat) will not uphold this standard: that is not ethical justification to initiate this cycle.
"If you want to require all Presidential candidates to release their tax forms then pass a law." That's the law the democrats used to get Trump's tax returns. it was in fact passed so that congress could publish corrurptly embarrassing tax returns in the wake of the teapot dome scandal.
Respectfully memyselfandi there is no law that a Presidential candidate or President release their taxes: rather, it has been the tradition, if I recall, going back to Nixon.
It's doubtful such a law could pass constitutional muster as the requirements for the presidency are stipulated in article two of the constitution, and can only be modified by amendment.
The release of tax returns by presidential aspirants is a basic, good government norm than had become part of our political traditions prior to Trump, who proceeded to break that norm.
Luckily we have an existing law that can re-establish said norm. Future Congresses shouldn't hesitate to use this law again. I'm all for privacy rights, but there's a public interest balance to be struck here. People with embarrassing financial histories they don't want made public have no business running for the White House.
+1
I'm with Kevin.
Yes, Republicans like Jordan would leak Hunter Biden's tax returns in an instant. That doesn't mean Democrats should normalize that behavior.
normalizing the public release of the Presidents or presidential candidates tax returns would be a good thing, not a bad thing.
How is releasing anyone's tax returns against their will a good thing?
Trump is on the record as being ok with releasing his tax returns.
Obviously not or he would have released them.
So, he was lying in an effort to fool voters? How does this square with your "Voters should decide if this is important."? Once again you're holding water for a party that has no ethical standards and asking Dems to continue to respect norms from years ago. Much too late for that.
How is releasing anyone’s tax records without their permission a bad thing, if they aren’t committing crimes? There are countries out there where anyone can request anyone else’s tax records and they don’t collapse. In fact most of them are deemed to be great places to live.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-panama-tax-nordics/privacy-what-privacy-many-nordic-tax-records-are-a-phone-call-away-idUSKCN0X91QE
Laws of any country other than the US are completely irrelevant.
How is releasing anyone's tax returns against their will a good thing?
How is the public not having detailed information about a president's financial affairs a good thing? It's the presidency.
Them don’t vote for him. I’m fine making it a law candidates have to relapse them. Until then, the government shouldn’t do it against their will.
Should the government also release all teachers medical records so the public can make sure they don’t have any infectious diseases and out the kids at risk?
Wow. Sorry for typos. Shouldn’t comment on here after the second beverage.
Them don’t vote for him. I’m fine making it a law candidates have to relapse them.
We already have a law. Congress simply hasn't taken advantage of said law. Until now.
I encourage Kevin McCarthy to announce in advance he'll hold a vote to authorize release of the tax returns of the two major party candiates the day after Labor Day, 2024.
If you think they won't even if the Democrats do nothing I have a bridge to sell to you.
If from this there comes a mandatory release of tax returns of all elected officials and candidates, that would actually be a big win for the US.
This should be public information.
The argument against releasing the info is naive, foolish nonsense. Headshakingly naive.
One of Drum's very worst takes.
I think it is morally wrong to publicly release his tax returns, but I just frankly don't care anymore. Democrats won't be earning any "points" by taking the high road on this. In the current state of US politics, there is no "high road" anymore, just how low can you go. Frankly the Democrats were asleep at the wheel with respect to George Santos, and their opposition research team should have found out about his resume enhancements (lies) prior to the midterms, and leaked it to the press months ago.
As far as that Orange shithead, no one will be shocked by what is disclosed or really care for more than 1 news cycle. Just disclose how much he earned, how little he paid in taxes, and how little he gave to charity.
When you do the right thing is it because you're trying to "earn points"?
i really don't see what's morally wrong about the legal release of a presidential candidate's tax returns. the release is in the public interest, which is why for decades presidents have done so voluntarily, which in my opinion far outweighs trump's interest in keeping them private.
You don’t see any difference between candidates releasing them voluntarily and the government reels using them against a candidate’s will?
I do see the difference. And that difference does not mean one is moral and the other is not. Your logic skills are sorely lacking.
There is actually a great deal to be learned from Trump’s tax returns, especially if they also release the accompanying worksheets. We know that Trump has received a lot of cash over the past two decades and, most especially, within the past decade and we don’t know its source. We could, for example, finally learn the source of the cash for the golf courses (especially the one in Scotland).
Similarly, if the fudging is blatant enough, his tax returns could give a strong hint about whether he owns someone at the IRS and perhaps even might indicate who.
Tax returns do not require a filer to list her or his specific holdings. Therefore, they can't be used to "expose an investor's trading strategies", which might indeed nullify a successful methodology.
So who cares who knows that a specific Master of the Universe is worth precisely $7.384 billion dollars instead of five --- or ten? This would be an EXCELLENT way to strengthen the "incentives" to be a good person. If Democratic Congressman X wants to invest in some gadolinium miners in Borneo AND gets all high and mighty about "protecting the Rainforest" [in Brazil...] it might be a bit embarrassing.
And that's a GOOD thing. Embarrassed congresscritters are more thoughtful congresscritters.
LOL. Yeah, release them all. Plus all the Democrats tax returns too. Every federally elected official. Let's see 'em.
Works for me.
Yeah, if we lose a few bought and paid for corporate Dems along the way, no great loss.
The House should vote to make the returns public AND vote to make publication of tax returns (for some specified period) a legal requirement for any presidential candidate upon running for office. We've clearly been skating by too long trusting that Republicans will adhere to something as flimsy as "norms."
Congress can't add requirements to running for president. Those are restricted to the ones listed in the constitution.
Yeah, you're probably right about that. Then Congress needs to quickly get an amendment in motion.
More moving of the goalposts here. People above are all about “Congress should pass a law requiring tax records to be public for presidential candidates.” But now we’re at “well akshually Congress can’t add requirements for the presidency because 240+ year old Reasons.”
Reminds me of how lots of conservatives claimed gerrymandering should be eliminated by the voters… and now SCOTUS is poised to eliminate the independent redistricting committees the voters installed in lots of states.
"The law allows Congress to demand tax returns for legislative purposes," That's not actually true and flies in the face of the reason congress passed this law. It was passed in the wake of the teapot dome scandal and it's purpose is to allow congress to examine executive branch employees tax returns to prevent corruption.
I guess the president doesn’t earn a paycheck from the federal government…
If Jim Jordan ran into Joe Biden's tax returns, he would release them?
They're here: https://joebiden.com/financial-disclosure/#
It's a complicated question, so let's ask Trump what he thinks of it:
“I don’t mind releasing. I’m under a routine audit, and it’ll be released.”
Oh, ok then. Release away!
I'll leave the legality of congress releasing the tax returns to the courts. If there's information of value to the public, which i believe there is for all presidents' tax returns, then dems should vote to release them. If Trump thinks such a release is illegal he can go to court and let them decide. The idea that we should just presume that it's illegal and defer to trump's whims is silly.
Okay, then! The courts have said "Go for it!"
Look, Trump repeatedly asserted that he was going to release the returns. Then he didn't. Coverage of NY state returns, which relate to Federal returns, have indicated tax fraud through deflating and inflating assets, and abuse of deductions, among other things. Also, he paid nothing for decades. NOTHING. And this was the big "billionaire" who lived a gilded life to the fullest, on camera whenever possible.
What else might the Federal returns reveal? More grounds for proscution, surely. Certainly more indications of the true character of The Lord & Savior for (far too) many American voters. Sunshine disinfects.
Also, expecting gentlemanly reciprocity from today's Qpublicans? That's dumber than putting a known insurrectionist in charge of the House Judiciary Committee, or indeed, as Speaker of the House.
have any courts said the equivalent of "go for it" already? i wasn't aware of any ruling on public release, only on the IRS providing them to the congressional committee.
From the Appeals Court ruling that authorized Congress to get Trump's tax returns.
"A Congressional request for information does not need to
ensure confidentiality to remain valid. United States v. Rumely,
345 U.S. 41, 43 (1953) (“It is the proper duty of a representative
body to look diligently into every affair of government and to
talk much about what it sees.” (internal quotation marks and
citation omitted)). When an inquiry uncovers information
worthy of legislation, that information often comes to light.
This is particularly true with regard to tax returns. There is no
constitutional guarantee to the privacy of tax returns."
Thanks, that's interesting. But since it states "There is no
constitutional guarantee to the privacy of tax returns", I do wonder still if since this ruling any statutory privacy rules have been put in place.
for anyone else interested, this seems to be pretty definitive that it is legal https://www.lawfareblog.com/house-democrats-can-release-trumps-tax-returns-should-they
In the definitive scholarly treatment of Section 6103(f), longtime University of Virginia law professor George Yin, who served as chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation from 2003 to 2005, concludes that the choice to allow the three tax committees to publish private tax information was a “conscious decision” by Congress. Prior to 1976, Yin explains, the president—along with the three congressional tax committees—had statutory authority to make return information public. A 1976 amendment eliminated the president’s authority to publicize return information but preserved the power of the three tax committees. “Congress no doubt felt compelled in 1976 to preserve some outlet for Congressional disclosures to the public,” Yin writes, and it “was natural to give this authority to the tax committees.”
On top of all this, the Speech and Debate Clause immunizes lawmakers from liability for statements they make in committee and on the House or Senate floor. So even if it weren’t for Section 6103(f)(4), a Ways and Means Committee member could—without legal consequence—read Trump’s tax returns aloud, line by line, with the C-SPAN cameras rolling. But House Democrats don’t need to rely on constitutional super-immunity here: The relevant statutory provisions clearly empower the Ways and Means Committee to enter Trump’s tax returns into the public domain.
This seems like a dammed if you do and damned if you don’t situation to me. If Democrats don’t release them Trump and his sycophants will say it is because they were “perfect” and Democrats couldn't benefit by releasing them. If Democrats do release them it will be damned as being done for political gain. And I sincerely doubt there will be anything in them more egregious than the countless other things he has done without consequence.
That’s why the Dems should just leave a copy of the tax returns on a laptop in a computer shop in Delaware. After all, after so many days, apparently Delaware law allows the computer shop to give that laptop to anyone else to rifle through and publish whatever content is contained on it.
“I didn’t recognize the customer but he left the laptop in my custody under the name ‘D. Trump’ then vanished. So I had no other choice but to download the entire hard drive and email it to 50 news outlets, as we do with all laptops left behind here.”
Disagree completely
The USA should do what the Scandinavian countries do
Make everybody's Tax Returns public
The USA used to do this until the 1920's when the very rich managed to get them made private
There is NO reason for secrecy that does nor involve cheating somebody out of something that they are entitled to
This x 1000. Most people's income and wealth can be reliably estimated from already-public or easily-paid-for records, including credit reports, property deeds, sunshine laws requiring public posting of public employee salaries, and job search websites listing typical wages in different fields and locations. Really, the only people who benefit from hiding tax records from view are (1) rich people and (2) small business owners, and even then they only benefit if they are also in group (3) people committing tax evasion or financial crimes. There is no reason to not make everyone's tax returns public, except Precedent (which of course is being thrown by the wayside in other circumstances, see "sole control over one's own uterus" for an example).
+1
Congress has passed laws setting out the financial information public officials and candidates for office are required to make public. If those laws are deficient, the solution is to change them. It would be an abuse of power for Democrats to release a candidate's tax returns for no good reason except they thought he should have done so voluntarily.
The especially annoying aspect of the matter is that Democrats had five years to educate voters about the Trump family's massive financial conflicts of interest and did fuck-all to try. Where were the investigations of Trump's pay-for-access "club memberships"? Of foreign patronage of his hotels and resorts? Of his companies' deals with foreign governments? Where were the demands that a president carrying hundreds of millions in debt should stop telling the Fed to keep interest rates low? Where was the constant mockery of the obvious lie that Trump wasn't involved in the management of his business affairs because he promised he never discussed them with his sons (whom he talked to practically every day)?
Where, for that matter, were the investigations of the means by which Mnuchen and the Kushner boy managed to negotiate multi-billion dollar deals to enrich themselves in their last months in office? We hear less about those billions than we do about Hunter Biden trying and failing to get a few million from China while Joe was a private citizen, because Republicans know how to work the media while Democrats remain fucking clueless.
Let Democrats get to work with that massive bounty of material they already have, and stop abusing their Congressional power to release tax returns in the hope journalists will do their job for them.
"Democrats had five years to educate voters about the Trump family's massive financial conflicts of interest and did fuck-all to try."
Um... agreed, except that for 3 of the 5 years, Donald Trump was actually in the White House, with his executive branch appointees blocking release of information and generating new crimes every day to flood the news cycle with shit so that nothing would stick. So blame the Dems all you want for wasting time since 2021, but prior to that, it's hard to see how they would've conducted investigations with the subject of the investigation in the White House with all its trappings including myriad ways to fuck over individual congresspeople's districts and states by withholding funding.
I know this was like an eon ago, but the first 2 years of your "Dems have done nothing for five years," Dems didn't even control either house of Congress. (That's how the GOP was able to cut taxes and almost repeal Obamacare, remember?)
Kinda hard to do much investigating when you have no power to force anyone to testify or give you information. But sure, oppo research is just as good as subpoena power, right?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_divisions_of_United_States_Congresses
Trump's conflicts of interest were so blatant, they didn't need to be uncovered by investigations with the power of subpoena, although it certainly would have helped. Just look how much mileage Republicans have got out of Hunter's laptop. The Republican-majority Senate committee investigation was probably the least important source of media coverage.
If we had any sense as a country, the committee in question would, at the end of the summer during a presidential election year, vote to make public the tax returns of the two major party nominees, and release them to the public. Establish a new norm. No amendment needed, and zero question as to whether or not there's a compelling public interest. And done in this manner there would also be no question of partisanship.
I get what you are saying, but Republicans started this train in 2014 and the returns they released were from private citizens and groups. The best solution would be to pass a law requiring all presidential candidates to release 10 years of their returns and those of any business, political, or charitable entities associated with them. But the Republican party is riddled with corruption and will never go along with that. I also don't have a problem with seeing Joe Biden's returns next year. If there is enough tit for tatism, maybe they'll decide they might as well do the right thing.
You want to keep your taxes private? Fine.
You want to be president? Fine.
Just don’t plan on doing both. Future potential presidential candidates just need to decide whether keeping their taxes secret or running for president is more important.
Trump has been going on for a year about how we need to treat him special because he was The President.
Well, isn't this how we treat him special in a democracy?
The IRS ignored its mandate to audit Trump's returns; the pretext does not look so thin.