# Mueller & Trumps Taxes- Does he have them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 16, 2018, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mueller-trumps-taxes-does-he-have-them/818043 "2018-07-16T21:29:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DtypeJag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@DtypeJag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DtypeJag)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mueller-trumps-taxes-does-he-have-them/818043/1 "2018-07-16T21:29:19Z")
Do we know if Mueller has ever gotten or requested Trumps tax returns? Maybe Cohen had copies. If not, can he legally obtain them? They might add alot of light on the Trump v. Putin situation. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mueller-trumps-taxes-does-he-have-them/818043/2 "2018-07-17T14:25:13Z")
Of course he has them. Mueller just had to get an _ex parte_ order from a judge, the IRS gives them to him, and Tump is not notified. ETA: [cite](https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-09-18/robert-mueller-likely-has-donald-trumps-tax-returns) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mueller-trumps-taxes-does-he-have-them/818043/3 "2018-07-17T14:30:39Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > Of course he has them. Mueller just had to get an _ex parte_ order from a judge, the IRS gives them to him, and Tump is not notified. > > ETA: [cite](https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-09-18/robert-mueller-likely-has-donald-trumps-tax-returns) Your cite says “probably”, not “of course”. And it also says: > [@](#): > > “I believe Mueller has already obtained tax returns in the Russia investigation,” Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor in the Securities and Commodities Fraud Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago, said on Twitter on Aug. 10. He later wrote in The Hill he often used tax returns in his own federal investigations, and that it is almost a necessity in an investigation like Mueller’s. It’s also done without knowledge of the subjects of the investigation. > > \ > > Does Mueller have the president’s tax returns? > > “I would be surprised if Mueller hadn’t obtained some tax returns by now. The question is just whose tax returns he has,” Mariotti wrote. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mueller-trumps-taxes-does-he-have-them/818043/4 "2018-07-17T14:37:33Z")
I’d bet that Mueller has had Trump’s tax returns since Comey handed them to him. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mueller-trumps-taxes-does-he-have-them/818043/5 "2018-07-17T16:00:37Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Your cite says “probably”, not “of course”. Well, it spells out how easy it is to get them, and how we would have no notification through official channels. So while it’s speculation, Mueller would have to be incompetent NOT to have them, and I don’t get the impression that Mueller is incompetent, since the investigation is going into money laundering areas. And Aspenglow is right - Comey would have had to be pretty incompetent if he didn’t have them, or at least have started the process, back when he was the guy in charge.