Tag: United States Secretary of the Treasury

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.

A senior State Department official acknowledged to reporters the US did not discuss any “Plan B” with European partners ahead of President Trump’s announcement Tuesday that the US would be pulling out of the Iran nuclear agreement. “We did not talk about a Plan B because we were focused on negotiating a supplemental agreement,” the official said. Two senior State Department officials said talks are ongoing with European allies and the US still hopes to reach a comprehensive deal on countering Iran’s malign activities through a “global effort,” but the officials did not rule out secondary sanctions targeting European companies. "That’s an intended consequence.” The officials said the US believes the Iran nuclear deal has given Iran room to increase its so-called “malign activities” in the Middle East since it was reached in 2015. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Former Vice President Joe Biden reacted today to President Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran deal, calling it "a profound mistake." The fact is that the agreement has been working to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Erdo?an said Trump’s move will put the entire world economy at stake. However, the U.S. will lose in the end.” Erdo?an said Trump should have respected the agreement, signed by the previous administration. “This is not how the international mechanisms work," he said. You need to abide by that.” Republican Sen. Jeff Flake told CNN's Jake Tapper today that he doesn't think President Trump's decision to pull the US out of the Iran nuclear deal is "a wise move."