Disgraced ex-President Donald Trump was just smacked with yet another brutal loss in his desperate efforts to keep his tax returns safely hidden away from the eyes of Congress and the American people — and this time, that loss was handed down by a federal judge who was appointed to his position by none other than Donald Trump himself.
Federal district court judge in Washington, D.C., Judge Trevor McFadden dismissed efforts made on behalf of the former president to prevent the Treasury Department and IRS from handing over Donald Trump’s tax returns to House Democrats. The Honorable McFadden stated in his ruling that “facially valid” congressional inquiries should not be impeded.
“In his 45-page long opinion on the matter, Judge McFadden wrote, “A long line of Supreme Court cases requires great deference to facially valid congressional inquiries. Even the special solicitude accorded former Presidents does not alter the outcome. The Court will therefore dismiss this case.”
House Democrats can certainly count this Trump-appointed judge ruling as a win for their side, but it will still likely be quite some time before they actually get their hands on ex-President Trump’s long-awaited, coveted, and secret tax returns.
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Ultimately, McFadden stayed the execution of his ruling for 14 days, in an effort to give both parties in the case ample time to discuss their next steps. As a result of such, the judge instructed the executive branch to hold off on sending the tax documents to House Democrats until said time period has passed.
Should the parties in the case not reach an agreement regarding the next steps forward within that 14-day time frame, Trump will have the opportunity to seek out relief from an appeals court.
The Democratic lawmaker who made the request to the IRS for Donald’s returns, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, has spoken out in praise of the judge’s ruling.
“This ruling is no surprise, the law is clearly on the Committee’s side. I am pleased that we’re now one step closer to being able to conduct more thorough oversight of the IRS’s mandatory presidential audit program,” Neal said in a statement.
McFadden made it known that he had reservations surrounding his ruling, but was firm in the fact that the former president was “wrong on the law” with regard to his efforts to block the committee’s requests for his tax returns.
“It might not be right or wise to publish the returns, but it is the Chairman’s right to do so,” the Trump-appointed judge wrote. “Congress has granted him this extraordinary power, and courts are loath to second guess congressional motives or duly enacted statutes. The Court will not do so here and thus must dismiss this case.”
You can read a full report on the ruling from The Hill here.
Featured image via Political Tribune gallery
