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Impeachable Offenses?

~ Examining the Case for Removal of the 45th President of the United States

Impeachable Offenses?

Tag Archives: bowman

Tax Returns and a Legitimate Purpose

07 Sunday Apr 2019

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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26 U.S.C. 6103, bowman, Chairman, Consovoy, Frank, House of Representatives, I.R.S., impeach, impeachable, Impeachment, legitimate reason, Richard Neal, Ross Garber, shall furnish, tax return, Treasury, Ways and Means Committee, William

The Ways and Means Committee of the United States House of Representatives has asked that the I.R.S. turn over President Trump’s tax returns and related information from the past six years. The Committee’s Chairman, Rep. Richard Neal, notes that the reason for his request is  to examine audit procedures for a president.

William S. Consovoy, retained by President Trump to represent him on this matter, responded to the request with a letter sent to the U.S. Treasury Department, advising the I.R.S. not to turn over the returns. He argues in that letter that President Trump has a privacy interest in his tax returns, which should be protected, and that the Ways and Means Committee has no legitimate reason for requesting  them. He claims that the reasons put forth by Neal are disingenuous and meant to hide his true motivation, which is purely political.

The congressional authority to request tax returns is codified in 26 U.S.C. section 6103(f), which reads in part:

“Upon written request from the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, the chairman of the Committee on Finance of the Senate, or the chairman of the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Secretary shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request . . . .”

Emphasis is added here to demonstrate that, generally, the I.R.S. does not have the discretion to refuse a request for tax records from Congress. However, as Ross Garber points out in a piece written for Politico, the Supreme Court has held that Congress exceeds its constitutional authority when requesting documents without a legitimate legislative purpose. He predicts a lengthy legal battle to determine whether such a legitimate reason actually exists, which Congress will ultimately  lose by reason of lack of legal authority or eventual mootness. Still, all is not lost. Garber points out that if the returns are not ultimately turned  over, then they could become a future article of  impeachment, for failure to turn over tax returns for improper reasons.

190404172526-trump-4-4-01-exlarge-169.jpgCNN

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Rosenstein Assures Trump he is Not a Target of the Mueller Investigation — The News Cycle Repeats Itself

01 Friday Feb 2019

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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bowman, deputy attorney general, donald trump, impeach, impeachable, Impeachment, investigation, Mueller, new york times, president, professor frank bowman, Robert Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, Special Counsel, subject, target, target v. subject, trump, united states

Trump said yesterday, during an interview with the New York Times, that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein informed him that he is not a target of the Mueller investigation. Trump also added that he is not a “subject” of the investigation, but it is unclear whether that is a word Rosenstein used or a descriptor Trump added. He seemed to use the words interchangeably saying first “he told the attorneys that I’m not a subject, I’m not a target,” and then added  “[t]he lawyers ask him. They say, ‘He’s not a target of the investigation.’”

Readers will recall that Trump already received the news that he is not a target of the Mueller investigation from Mueller himself in April of 2018. As Professor Bowman wrote then, what that could mean, according to the definition of “target” in the United States Attorneys Manual, is that DOJ policy prevents Trump from becoming an indicted defendant and therefore a target. However, if that is not what Rosenstein meant and Trump could be a target, then it is significant that he has not, in the past 10 or so months, become one. What is more significant is if Trump is indeed not a subject of Mueller’s investigation. That could mean that there is not enough evidence to continue investigating Trump or enough evidence to have exonerated Trump.  That, however, seems unlikely.

rosen.jpegAndrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

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Frank O. Bowman, III


Floyd R. Gibson Missouri Endowed Professor of Law
University of Missouri School of Law

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