The Daily Fuckup

Donald Trump on Aug. 4, 2021, went to federal court to try to stop the Treasury Department from turning over years of tax returns and related tax information to the House Ways and Means Committee. The filing landed five days after the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel said Treasury had to comply with the committee’s request under the tax-code provision that governs congressional access to return information. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/ways-and-means-committee-s-request-former-president-s-tax-returns-and-related-tax?utm_source=openai))

At issue was 26 U.S.C. § 6103(f)(1), the statute that gives the tax-writing committees access to return information from Treasury. In its July 30 opinion, the Office of Legal Counsel said the chairman of Ways and Means had given enough reason for the request and that Treasury should furnish the information to the committee. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/ways-and-means-committee-s-request-former-president-s-tax-returns-and-related-tax?utm_source=openai))

Trump’s lawsuit sought to block disclosure while the court fight continued. The narrower legal question was whether Treasury had to produce the records under the statute and whether the committee’s stated legislative purpose was enough to justify the request. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/ways-and-means-committee-s-request-former-president-s-tax-returns-and-related-tax?utm_source=openai))

The dispute was the latest turn in a long-running battle over access to Trump’s financial records. In the August 2021 phase of the case, the immediate fight was not over whether the records existed, but over whether federal law required Treasury to hand them over to Congress. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/ways-and-means-committee-s-request-former-president-s-tax-returns-and-related-tax?utm_source=openai))