Tag: Steven Mnuchin

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin appears before the White House press corps to lay out the newest sanctions on Iran and take questions. #FoxNews FOX News operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Radio, FOX News…

Sarah Silbiger/The New York Times WASHINGTON — President Trump’s personal lawyer on Monday urged the Treasury Department not to hand over Mr. Trump’s tax returns to House Democrats, warning that releasing the documents to lawmakers he accused of having a “radical view of unchecked congressional power” would turn the Internal Revenue Service into a political weapon. Mr. Neal on Saturday gave the Internal Revenue Service until April 23 to provide him with the tax returns after Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, said last week that he could not meet an earlier deadline because he needed to study the lawfulness of the request. Mr. Neal used an obscure provision of the tax code to request the returns, which he said his committee needs in order to evaluate the policy of automatic audits of presidential tax returns. Mr. Neal argued in his letter on Saturday that the administration has no authority to question how the committee would handle the information or the validity of its legislative purpose. Mr. Trump’s lawyer, William S. Consovoy, said on Monday that the legal rationale behind Mr. Neal’s dismissal of the Treasury Department’s concerns was wrong. But Mr. Consovoy, echoing an argument that Trump administration officials have made privately, said that in this case the intent of the law is more important than the letter of the law. “Congress’s motives do matter under the Constitution,” Mr. Consovoy wrote, arguing that the request for Mr. Trump’s tax information does not serve any legislative purpose. “This isn’t an issue just about the president’s tax returns and congressional oversight,” Mr. Mnuchin said on the Fox Business Network on Monday. “This is an issue about protecting Americans.” He added: “I want to make sure that the I.R.S. was weaponized.”

Sarah Silbiger/The New York Times A Democratic House chairman on Saturday castigated the Treasury Department for failing to meet his deadline to furnish President Trump’s tax returns, arguing that the administration’s apparent concerns over his use of powers outlined in the Internal Revenue Service’s tax code “lack merit.” The chairman, Representative Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts, set a new deadline for compliance, April 23, and warned that if the Trump administration did not reply by then, its “failure will be interpreted as a denial of my request.” The tone of Mr. Neal’s letter suggested Democrats are prepared to take their request — made through a little-known provision in the federal tax code — to court if necessary, initiating what could be a protracted legal fight over Congress’s oversight powers. Moreover, judicial precedent commands that none of the concerns raised can legitimately be used to deny the committee’s request.” The Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said on Saturday that he had read Mr. Neal’s letter but made no commitments about complying with the request by the new deadline, which he described as “arbitrary.” “I feel a responsibility that we get this right and that the I.R.S. While he said that he would follow the law, he made clear that he had serious concerns about protecting the privacy of the tax returns of all taxpayers, including Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump himself has made abundantly clear he does not intend to relent on his yearslong objections to turning over his tax returns, and his personal lawyer has urged the Treasury Department to fight Mr. Neal’s request. “The committee’s request raises serious issues concerning the constitutional investigative authority, the legitimacy of the asserted legislative purpose and the constitutional rights of American citizens,” Mr. Mnuchin wrote. But no law prevents a taxpayer from releasing returns while under audit, and the I.R.S. Mr. Neal says it is a committee investigation of that mandatory presidential audit policy that necessitates seeing Mr. Trump’s returns. Legal scholars who have studied the provision and Mr. Neal’s request believe that if the Treasury Department does object, it will argue that the Ways and Means chairman has overstepped Congress’s oversight authority by making a request that lacks a legitimate legislative purpose and is meant only to achieve a political end. At the news briefing on Saturday, Mr. Mnuchin defended his decision to oversee the request, noting that the Treasury Department supervises the tax collection agency. “There is no valid basis to question the legitimacy of the committee’s legislative purpose here,” Mr. Neal wrote, citing a 1957 Supreme Court case, Watkins v. United States, as saying Congress’s investigative powers were “broad” and “encompasses inquiries concerning the administration of existing laws as well as proposed or possibly needed statutes.” But legal scholars say that the administration could seek to cite the same 1957 ruling against the committee, because it also holds that while the powers of Congress to investigate are “broad,” they are also “not unlimited.”

Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, said in a letter to Representative Richard E. Neal, the Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, that the Treasury Department’s lawyers needed more time to assess the lawfulness of the request and expressed concern that it would be a violation of taxpayer privacy. “The legal implications of this request could affect protections for all Americans against politically motivated disclosures of tax information, regardless of which party is in power.” Mr. Neal responded to Mr. Mnuchin’s decision with a terse statement that indicated he believed the request was a matter for the Internal Revenue Service, not the Treasury secretary: “I will consult with counsel and determine the appropriate response to the commissioner in the coming days.” Mr. Neal is expected to send a follow-up letter demanding the tax returns and outlining potential next steps, which could include a subpoena or a lawsuit. audit since the 2016 presidential campaign, made clear he would continue to cite that as a reason not to release his tax records, even though no law prevents a taxpayer from releasing returns while under audit. “I have no obligation to do that while under audit and no lawyer would tell you to release your tax returns while you’re under audit.” Mr. Trump’s Treasury Department was facing a midnight deadline to respond to a letter sent last week by Mr. Neal, who issued a formal request for six years of Mr. Trump’s personal and business tax records. Mr. Mnuchin signaled his intention on Tuesday, when he told members of Congress that the president had no legal obligation to make his tax returns public. “Whether it is this party or a different party over time, I take the obligation very seriously to make sure that we follow the law correctly.” But the provision in tax law that Democrats are using appears to give the Trump administration little leeway to resist their request; it says merely that the Treasury secretary “shall” furnish the requested information. It was used several times by House Republicans when they were investigating whether the I.R.S. “Again, believing that he is above the law, Trump is engaged in obstruction.” Republicans praised Mr. Mnuchin’s caution and lashed out at Democrats for what they said was an abuse of power. “Americans didn’t elect their members of Congress to go to Washington to try to dig up harmful information on their political opponents,” said Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. The tax returns of presidents are automatically audited.

I am not briefed on the full extent of those conversations.” Mr. Mnuchin’s statement sent Democratic congressional aides scrambling to assess whether conversations between the White House and the Treasury Department about Mr. Trump’s taxes represented political interference and violated the law. “The general public when they elected President Trump made the decision to elect him without his tax returns being released,” Mr. Mnuchin said, adding that the president complied with requirements to release a financial disclosure form. While Mr. Mnuchin has been fairly cautious in discussing the request, Mr. Trump and his top advisers have made it increasingly clear that they will not allow the president’s tax returns to be released without a fight. Pressed by Representative Maxine Waters of California, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, about Mr. Trump’s penchant for firing cabinet members, Mr. Mnuchin said on Tuesday that job security would not be a factor in how he manages the fight for Mr. Trump’s taxes. Last week, Representative Richard E. Neal, the Massachusetts Democrat who leads the House Ways and Means Committee, requested that the I.R.S. “It will never end, but that’s the way life goes!” Mick Mulvaney, the president’s acting chief of staff, said over the weekend that Democrats would “never” obtain the president’s taxes and called their efforts “a political hit job.” Last Friday, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer asserted Mr. Trump’s right as a citizen to keep his tax returns private and told the Treasury Department not to hand the returns over to House Democrats. If the agency objects to the request or does not answer, Mr. Neal could press his case and warn the agency that House Democrats will view not handing over the documents as a violation of the law. He said he expected Mr. Neal to turn to the courts to try to force compliance with the law. “Mnuchin obviously has a very close relationship with the president, he is very loyal to the president,” Mr. Suozzi said in an interview. audits and enforces the federal tax laws against a president.” Mr. Gibbs noted that the provision Democrats were using to seek Mr. Trump’s returns was drafted when the tax code was being rewritten to improve protection of taxpayer privacy.

Good Friday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today. _____________________ • The Senate voted to overturn President Trump’s national emergency declaration at the southwest border, delivering a bipartisan rebuke for what lawmakers in both parties deemed executive overreach. The 59-41 vote on the House-passed measure sets up the first veto of Mr. Trump’s presidency. • Three votes in Congress this week — rebuking Mr. Trump over Saudi Arabia, blocking his national emergency declaration and demanding a public release of the Mueller report — demonstrated a newfound willingness among some of Mr. Trump’s Republican allies to stand up to him. • Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has been personally pushing China to give the American film industry greater access to its markets. That has raised ethical questions, given his ties to Hollywood. • New evidence suggests that Russian spies used networks run by Aleksej Gubarev, a tech entrepreneur, to hack the Democratic Party in 2016 — much as the so-called Steele dossier, which purported to detail Russian interference in the election, alleged. • Facing billions of dollars in cleanup costs, the Pentagon is pushing the Trump administration to adopt a weaker standard for groundwater pollution caused by chemicals that have commonly been used at military bases. • Afghanistan’s national security adviser accused the American special envoy of seeking personal benefit by sidelining the Afghan government in peace talks with the Taliban, “increasing the legitimacy of the Taliban” and “decreasing the legitimacy of the Afghan government.” _____________________ Today’s On Politics briefing was compiled by Isabella Grullón Paz in New York.

(CNN)In President Donald Trump's Christmas Day telling, the drugs are flowing over the border, the Federal Reserve is imperiling the economy and the Democrats are preparing to harass him with oversight requests. "It's a disgrace, what's happening in our country," Trump fumed, seated behind the Resolute Desk on Tuesday, after decrying Democrats as hypocrites and recalling -- unprompted -- his firing of former FBI Director James Comey. Trump acknowledged the standoff with Democrats over funding for his long-promised border wall has no foreseeable end date. He's the first president to spend Christmas at the White House in 18 years; the last was Bill Clinton in 2000. He claimed, without evidence, that federal employees on furlough or working without pay understand his demand for a border wall -- and support him in his mission. He insisted in lengthy remarks the prolonged shutdown was the fault of Democrats, and repeated his demands a border barrier be funded before the government can reopen. Describing the opposing party as hypocrites for what he claimed was onetime support for a border wall, Trump transitioned sharply into a screed on Comey, who he fired early in his term. The Democrats hated him. They were calling for his firing," Trump said. Some Democrats faulted Comey for his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails.

“It’s Christmas Eve and President Trump is plunging the country into chaos,” the two top Democrats in Congress, House speaker nominee Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, wrote in a joint statement on Monday. Trump links Federal Reserve to 'a powerful golfer who can't putt' Read more “The stock market is tanking and the president is waging a personal war on the Federal Reserve – after he just fired the Secretary of Defense.” Trump criticized the Federal Reserve on Monday, describing it as the “only problem” for the US economy, even as top officials convened the “plunge protection team” forged after the 1987 crash to discuss the growing rout in stock markets. “The Fed is like a powerful golfer who can’t score because he has no touch – he can’t putt!” Trump has frequently criticized the Fed’s raising of interest rates this year and has gone after Powell several times, telling Reuters in August he was “not thrilled” with his own appointee. The Fed increased rates again last week. Mnuchin said on Sunday that he had called CEOs from the nation’s six largest banks – Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo. Trump nevertheless railed against the Federal Reserve on Monday. They don’t have a feel for the Market, they don’t understand necessary Trade Wars or Strong Dollars or even Democrat Shutdowns over Borders. Trump tweeted on Monday that he was “all alone (poor me) in the White House waiting for the Democrats” to make a deal. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) I am all alone (poor me) in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come back and make a deal on desperately needed Border Security. “I don’t think things are going to move very quickly,” he said.

As the stock market falls, President Trump has turned on his pick to run the Federal Reserve, Jerome H. Powell. After the Fed raised its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday, the fifth consecutive quarterly increase, Mr. Trump fretted to aides that Mr. Powell would “turn me into Hoover,” a reference to the man who was president in the early years of the Great Depression. “If Powell gets terminated, what we’ve seen happen in the markets in the past few weeks will look like a walk in the park,” David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff, said in an email on Sunday. In a statement Sunday, Mr. Mnuchin said he had contacted the chief executives of six major banks to make sure their operations were running smoothly. The statement added that Mr. Mnuchin would convene a meeting of the President’s Working Group on financial markets, which he leads, to coordinate efforts to “assure normal market operations.” The Fed’s unanimous decision to raise its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday reflected the confidence of its officials that the economy remains strong — even as they insisted that future rate increases would depend on continued growth. By raising rates, the Fed is bringing to a close its long campaign of economic stimulus that began during the 2008 financial crisis, which included lowering interest rates to near zero. Many investors had also wanted a pause, and the decision set off another slide in stock prices. The law, however, does not address the president’s authority to remove Mr. Powell from his role as Fed chairman without removing him from the Fed’s board, a move that some of the president’s advisers have urged. A replacement for Mr. Powell would require Senate confirmation, and this person would join a policymaking committee that voted unanimously for the December rate increase. Some of Mr. Trump’s economic advisers have encouraged him to remove Mr. Powell, arguing that the decision would reverse recent stock declines.

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In a tense meeting on Monday, leading Cabinet members warned Donald J. Trump that shutting down the federal government would make it exponentially harder for them to steal from. Led by his Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, the Cabinet members begged Trump to prevent a government showdown that would bring their brazen spree of pillaging the nation’s coffers to a screeching halt. “Mr. President, with the federal government up and running, I was able to take seven trips on military aircraft at a cost of eight hundred thousand dollars,” Mnuchin said. “I implore you, sir: don’t make me fly coach.” Trump’s three oldest children, Ivanka, Eric, and Don, Jr., who have piled up impressive taxpayer-funded travel bills of their own, chimed in with an emotional plea to their father. “Daddy, please don’t make us stop plundering government money,” Ivanka said. “Not right before Christmas.” The normally taciturn Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Ben Carson, also spoke up, warning that a government shutdown would make it impossible for him to accessorize his thirty-one-thousand-dollar dining-room set by purchasing seven-thousand-dollar place mats. “I’d really like those,” he said. According to Kellyanne Conway, the counsellor to the President, the emotional Cabinet meeting had a profound impact on Trump. “For the first time he saw how a government shutdown would hurt people,” Conway said.