# Congress Can Seek Trump's Tax Records, DC Circuit Court Rules **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 11, 2019, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-can-seek-trumps-tax-records-dc-circuit-court-rules/841635 "2019-10-11T15:33:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-can-seek-trumps-tax-records-dc-circuit-court-rules/841635/21 "2019-10-14T14:15:13Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Quick question then. Is there any punishment if information from those tax returns get leaked to the press or other people? Depends on what you mean. If someone pulled a Pentagon Papers, and read it into the official public record, then probably not. If some staffer meets a reporter in a back room and gives it over, then probably. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-can-seek-trumps-tax-records-dc-circuit-court-rules/841635/22 "2019-10-14T14:35:07Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Quick question then. Is there any punishment if information from those tax returns get leaked to the press or other people? That’s a silly question. Of course there is punishment. It’s also silly to think anyone would want to leak them. Why would they do that? It will just show us what we already know: Trump is the biggest most bestest most wonderfulest most smartest most honest businessman ever, who is always making the most bestest deals ever. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-can-seek-trumps-tax-records-dc-circuit-court-rules/841635/23 "2019-10-14T15:20:09Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Quick question then. Is there any punishment if information from those tax returns get leaked to the press or other people? The question I’m wondering about is related. Suppose, for the sake of wild speculation, something turns up in those tax returns that looks fishy. Payments made to women who’ve claimed to have affairs with Trump. Or payments not properly accounted for in the returns, payments that have shown up elsewhere. Or shell corporations that are used for fishy purposes. Or, I dunno, something that I as a tax amateur can’t predict. What are the constraints around legislators who find out about shenanigans? Can they report in general terms what they’ve learned? Specific terms? Can they report shenanigans at all? ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-can-seek-trumps-tax-records-dc-circuit-court-rules/841635/24 "2019-10-14T16:27:24Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Quick question then. Is there any punishment if information from those tax returns get leaked to the press or other people? There does not appear to have been any fallout [the last time that that happened](http://www.taxhistory.org/www/features.nsf/Articles/CFAF07391B68826285257CCF0042BFEF?OpenDocument). > [@](#): > > Karl Rove and Miss America have something in common: Organizations affiliated with each of them had their confidential tax information made public last month by the House Ways and Means Committee. > What’s more, there’s probably nothing those groups – or more than a dozen others in the same boat – can do about it. > [@](#): > > The mass disclosure happened April 9, when Ways and Means voted along party lines to refer former IRS official Lois Lerner to the Justice Department for criminal investigation. > [@](#): > > Ways and Means Chair Dave Camp, R-Mich., chose to submit that referral to Attorney General Eric Holder by letter, which the committee posted online. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-can-seek-trumps-tax-records-dc-circuit-court-rules/841635/25 "2019-10-14T17:37:26Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Trump seems to try awfully hard to conceal the presence of any fish. He assures us that there’s lots of fish— fantastic fish, the best fish— and covers the entire pond with a tarp. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-can-seek-trumps-tax-records-dc-circuit-court-rules/841635/26 "2019-10-15T01:24:54Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > What are the constraints around legislators who find out about shenanigans? Can they report in general terms what they’ve learned? Specific terms? Can they report shenanigans at all? Thanks for clarifying my question. My question would be are there legal consequences if they leak the information to third parties or would it be House punishment (censure, expelled, etc. in theory). Also, could they report suspected illegal acts to the FBI, Department of the Treasury, state AGs, etc.\* based on what they find in the tax returns? \*Ignore the theory the President can’t be indited and assume it is the tax return of an indictable citizen/resident ETA: read Lance Turbo’s cite and noted > [@](#): > > One exception is within section 6103(f), which stipulates that the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees may access confidential taxpayer information in closed executive session and may publicly share that information only after obtaining taxpayer consent. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-can-seek-trumps-tax-records-dc-circuit-court-rules/841635/27 "2019-10-15T02:56:11Z")
This was answered in my last post. The last time the Ways and Means Committee used U.S. Code § 6103 (f) and then subsequently both forwarded private info to the DOJ and published private info to a public website, there were no legal consequences whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-can-seek-trumps-tax-records-dc-circuit-court-rules/841635/28 "2019-10-15T03:17:32Z")
In similar, but not identical circumstances, the IRS paid $50k to the National Organization for Marriage to settle a lawsuit over disclosing confidential tax information. This was also related to the IRS targeting controversy, but didn’t have anything to do the House Ways and Means Committee’s handling of information. [link](https://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/irs-nom-lawsuit-108266) So it looks like the penalty may be somewhere between a stern look and $50k fine. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-can-seek-trumps-tax-records-dc-circuit-court-rules/841635/29 "2019-10-15T21:57:22Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > The tax returns requested are probably, “linked to some sort of crime,” but that is not the reason for Richard Neal’s request since the House Ways and Means Committee is not a criminal investigative organization. The request was made for a legitimate legislative purpose. I forget. Which form is used to report bribes from foreign governments? > [@running\_coach](#): > > Trump seems to try awfully hard to conceal the presence of any fish. Thereby keeping the dem’s focus there instead of making any serious efforts investigating something that might actually merit investigation. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-can-seek-trumps-tax-records-dc-circuit-court-rules/841635/30 "2019-10-15T22:30:13Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > I forget. Which form is used to report bribes from foreign governments? I don’t know. Do you thinks it’s relevant? You’re the first one to mention bribes in this thread. Do you think he has taken bribes? ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-can-seek-trumps-tax-records-dc-circuit-court-rules/841635/31 "2019-10-16T08:18:36Z")
DJT has a long history of hiding records, and more recently of destroying records in the White House. He goes to great effort to maintain non-transparency. Why hide his financials? Because they’ll show he’s owned by hostile interests and he doesn’t want to die in prison? Congress can issue all the subpeonas they want; who will actually retrieve subpoenaed documents from a most obstructive POTUS? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-can-seek-trumps-tax-records-dc-circuit-court-rules/841635.md?page=1)