Treasury misses second Dem deadline on Trump tax returns

The Treasury Department on Tuesday missed a second deadline from House Democrats to provide President Trump’s tax returns.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a letter that the department can't act on the request "unless and until it is determined to be consistent with law."

He said that he expects Treasury to provide the House Ways and Means Committee with a final decision by May 6 after receiving legal conclusions from the Department of Justice.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) had given the IRS until Tuesday at 5 p.m. to comply with his request for six years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns. Neal said earlier this month that he would view a failure to provide the returns by the deadline as a denial of his request.

Neal made the request for Trump’s tax returns under Section 6103 of the federal tax code, which states that the Treasury secretary “shall furnish” tax returns upon written request of the chairmen of Congress’s tax committees, provided that the documents are reviewed in a closed session.

The April 23 deadline was Neal’s second deadline for the administration to provide Trump’s tax documents, as it missed his initial deadline of April 10. At the time, Mnuchin said Treasury was unable to complete its review of Neal’s request by the initial deadline.

Neal said in a statement Tuesday that he plans “to consult with counsel about my next steps.”

Other Democrats vocally criticized Mnuchin’s comments. Ways and Means Committee member Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) called the response “more obstruction!”