Mnuchin May Go To Jail If He Refuses to Turn Over Trump's Taxes

[babylonsister]

Posted on Tue, Apr 9th, 2019 by Leo Vidal
Mnuchin May Go To Jail If He Refuses to Turn Over Trump’s Taxes


Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has found himself in the hot seat, and if he doesn’t handle things properly he may also find himself in jail.

Last week House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) sent a letter to the IRS requesting six years of Trump’s personal and business returns. He asked the IRS to provide the documents by Wednesday. And today, Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig will be on Capitol Hill testifying before Congress.

Although Trump has had his lawyer and chief of staff publicly argue that he has no legal obligation to turn over his tax returns to Congress, a former Treasury Secretary told MSNBC’s “The Last Word” with Lawrence O’Donnell that the law is clear and Trump must comply.

In fact, according to former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, a professor at Harvard, Mnuchin will be violating federal law if he interferes in the IRS commissioner giving Trump’s tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee.

Neal made his tax return request under Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code, which states that Treasury “shall furnish” tax returns upon request from the chairmen of Congress’s tax committees, as long as the committees review the documents in a closed session.

more...

https://www.politicususa.com/2019/04/09/mnuchin-may-go-to-jail-if-he-refuses-to-turn-over-trumps-taxes.html

[Greg K]

1. Except the DOJ will give every one of them a pass on everything.

[spanone]

2. K&R...👍🏼👍🏼

[OrlandoDem2]

4. Democrats will have to play extraordinary hard ball. They will not

turn over Trump’s taxes and they will block the IRS and any other government agency from doing so.

[Bettie]

5. And by "May" they mean "Won't"

because no one in this administration is subject to laws anymore.

[Polly Hennessey]

6. Does his wife get to go with him?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. But he won't. Not a chance.

Trump's goons violate federal law several times a day before lunch, and again a couple more times before they leave the office for the day, and not one of them will ever see the inside of a jail cell.

[SlogginThroughIt]

8. The only way anything happens to these people is if

The only way anything happens to these people is if we vote Democrats i to power in 2020. Yes keep exploring every avenue to get the info. But they are going to stall and deny us access. In the meantime highlight that stalling and denying and make it all about “what are they hiding” in the news.... And then win in 2020.


Winning in 2020 is really all there is left for us. We don’t win and... Well I don’t want to be the pessimist but it ain’t good. So really we need a focused effort on protecting our vulnerable seats and taking theirs. We have smart and motivated people here and we have a communications forum. We have the rules here to enforce and ensure we aren’t split by disinformation campaigns. We just have to put that all to work and quit arguing about the dumb shit.

Let our politicians do the work to keep trying to get the mueller report, tax statements, etc. But our eyes have to be on 2020 right now.

[Bayard]

9. Breaking the law at every turn

It is illegal to refuse this request, pure and simple. It is not a choice.

Same thing with him ordering the separation of families at the border again. There is a court injunction not to do this. Its illegal.

If the Justice Dept. will not rein this criminal in, Congress has to do so. I understand there is still a jail under the chambers.

[onenote]

10. Only if a court orders the returns be given to the Committee and Mnuchin is held in contempt

The article makes it sound like because refusing to comply with Chairman Neal's demand for Trump's returns would be contrary to law that Mnuchin could be directly prosecuted and jailed. That is not the case. Not complying may be "unlawful" but it is not a violation of anything in the criminal code.

It's a mistake I've pointed out before -- not everything that is unlawful is criminal. I'm not surprised when non-lawyers make the mistake of equating "illegal" with "criminal" -- but it's a pretty egregious error for the author of the article, who says he has a law degree -- to make.

[ScratchCat]

11. A court only needs to find him in contempt

There is no grey area here, and no "legal issue" for the court to interpret. The law is the law, and there is no legal basis to refuse the request. Courts may not even hear this, as there is no "interpretation" here. If he doesn't comply, a court will order him to.

[onenote]

15. Courts will hear the case. They will not issue an ex parte order

Thinking otherwise is pure fantasy.

They should rule in favor of Neal. The one area he will may have to work a bit to convince a court is the request for returns pre-dating Trump's candidacy. Neal didn't, but should have, made the argument that the Committee's oversight of tax legislation gives it reason to investigate whether and to what extent the Administration's proposals will personally benefit Trump (i.e., conflicts of interest issues). That would be a better "legitimate purpose" for needing the older returns than the stated reasons relating to the automatic audit of presidential returns.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

12. Sure he will. The same day I win Powerball.

Should have known this was from Politicususa.

[babylonsister]

14. WTF does that mean?

Summers said it, Politicususa reported it.

https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/fmr-treasury-secretary-mnuchin-must-not-stop-irs-from-releasing-trump-s-tax-returns-1482515523944

[50 Shades Of Blue]

16. Politicususa specializes in misleading headlines. There is NO CHANCE Mnuchin goes to jail.

NONE. There is no "may" about it.

[dalton99a]

13. "How many divisions does the Pope have?" - Joseph Stalin

Who will take Mnuchin into custody if the asshole decides to give him all the protection of federal law enforcement?