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Supreme Court Rules On Trump’s Tax Returns Appeal

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has ruled in favor of former President Donald Trump in his appeal to keep his tax returns from Congress.

“Chief Justice John Roberts agreed to temporarily put on hold a lower court order requiring the release of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns by the Internal Revenue Service to a Democratic-led House committee,” CNN reported.

Last week an appeals court decided to deny the former president’s appeal to keep the records from Congress. But that left the possibility that the case was going to be appealed to the Supreme, Fox News reported.

The House Ways and Means Committee first requested six years of Trump’s tax returns in 2019, but then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin denied the effort. After President Biden was elected, the Department of Justice said in July 2021 that Congress should be able to review the records, which Trump appealed. 

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden ruled last December that the Treasury Department should turn the tax returns over to the congressional committee, and a three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with that ruling in August. The full bench of the D.C. Circuit Court denied Trump’s request to stop the release on Thursday. 

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Rep. Liz Cheney on Sunday described how she believes the situation involving former President Donald Trump’s testimony before the House Jan. 6 Committee, which she co-chairs, will play out in the coming weeks.

In an appearance on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” the Wyoming Republican — who is leaving office in January after getting trounced in an August primary by Trump-backed Harriet Hageman — first responded to a question from host Chuck Todd about what the committee will do if the former president doesn’t produce requested documents by a Nov. 4 deadline.

“We are anticipating that the former president will understand his legal obligation and will comply with the subpoena,” Cheney said.

Fox News adds:

The subpoena deals with Trump’s supposed role in what the committee called in an accompanying letter a “multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transition of power.” In addition to physical records, the committee is calling for Trump to appear on November 14 for a deposition under oath so that he can face questions about the events that led to the riot at the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.

“We’ve made clear in the subpoena a number of things, including that if he intends to take the Fifth, he ought to alert us of that ahead of time,” Cheney said.

Todd then asked the outgoing Republican about an offer made by Trump’s legal team to have him testify on live TV. However, though the committee has held several hearings and heard witness testimony during primetime, Turmp’s subpoena was not intended to be for a live hearing, with Cheney going on to say that the committee is not likely to hold any hearings “in which they are not in total control,” Fox News reported.

“We are not going to allow the former president — he’s not going to turn this into a circus,” she said. “This isn’t going to be, you know, his first debate against Joe Biden and the circus and the food fight that became. This is a far too serious set of issues, and we’ve made clear exactly what his obligations are, and we are proceeding with that set out.”

She went on to say that Trump’s testimony “may take multiple days” and that the committee plans to handle it “with a level of rigor and discipline and seriousness that it deserves.”

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If Trump refuses to comply with the subpoena, Cheney explained that the committee has “many, many alternatives that we will consider,” without elaborating on what they are.

Last month, Cheney turned heads when she declared she would leave the GOP if Trump becomes the party’s 2024 presidential nominee.

“I’m going to make sure Donald Trump, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure he is not the nominee. And if he is the nominee, I won’t be a Republican,” she said at The Texas Tribune festival, CNN reported.

She also talked about how she was going to work to ensure that the Trump-backed Kari lake does not become Arizona governor.

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“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure Kari Lake is not elected,” she said as she admitted that meant she would campaign for Democrats.

She did not comment on whether she herself will run for the Oval Office, however.

“It’s not about me or making a decision about what I’m going to do,” she said. “I certainly will do whatever it takes to make sure Donald Trump isn’t anywhere close to the Oval Office.”

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