Acting White House Chief Of Staff Mick Mulvaney stopped by Fox News on Sunday morning where he did not mince words about the Democrats attempts at getting the IRS to release President Donald Trump’s tax returns. He was responding to a line of questioning about a formal request from House Ways and Means Committee chairman Richard Neal for the IRS to hand over six years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns.
Neal has given the government agency until April 10 to comply with his demands, but Mulvaney doesn’t seem to view this as a threat — dismissing the play as a “political stunt” from Democrats who just “want attention.” He also claimed, quite prematurely, that this will “never” happen.
You always see something from the Democrats. If they don’t get what they want on the Muller report they’re gonna ask for the taxes, if they don’t get what they want on the taxes, they’ll ask for something else. So it doesn’t surprise anybody, but keep in mind, they knew they’re not going to get these taxes. They know what the law is, they know that one of the fundamental principles of the IRS is to protect the confidentiality of you, and me, and everybody else that files taxes. They know that.
For what it’s worth, the literal purpose of the Internal Revenue Service is collecting taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, while providing tax assistance to taxpayers and pursuing and resolving instances of erroneous or fraudulent tax filings. In other words, not protecting the privacy of billionaires.
MIck Mulvaney says that the democrats will never see President Trump's taxes and that they know they won't #FNS pic.twitter.com/DDjFmjGz8f
— Fox News Sunday (@FoxNewsSunday) April 7, 2019
“To be clear, you believe Democrats will never see the president’s tax returns,” grilled a skeptical-sounding Fox New Sunday host Bill Hemmer, to that point.
“Oh no, never! Nor should they,” Mulvaney continued. “Keep in mind that was an issue that was already litigated before the election. Voters knew the president could have given his tax returns, they knew that he didn’t and they elected him anyway.”
Well that sounds like flawed logic, to say the least, and quite a few journalists and others jumped out of the woodwork to point this much out on Twitter.
Under the law, the IRS has to turn over the tax returns because Democrats are investigating whether or not the IRS is following correct auditing procedures with Trump.
Mick Mulvaney Says Democrats Will Never See Trump’s Tax Returns (He’s Lying) https://t.co/MhgDk6Yggh
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) April 7, 2019
Trump's acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says: "Voters knew the president could have given his tax returns, they knew that he didn’t and they elected him anyway.”
But Trump repeatedly said during the campaign he couldn't release his taxes because of an ongoing audit 🤔🤔🤔 https://t.co/bzGTXsL57y
— Chris Riotta (@chrisriotta) April 7, 2019
https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1114889552873840640
Mr. Mulvaney: (1) This is not your call. Congress has the right to these returns. (2) Retaining the trust of the electorate is vastly more important than protecting the President's financial privacy. Our democracy increasingly depends on you & your colleagues understanding that. https://t.co/6RkbVRZ9Yy
— Sean Casten (@SeanCasten) April 7, 2019
The President promised the American people that they would see his tax returns—Mulvaney is saying he lied.
He’s also saying the Trump Administration will refuse to comply with the law: "the Secretary shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified.” https://t.co/X8x5atPGdG
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) April 7, 2019
Mulvaney: Voters "knew that he didn’t [reveal his tax returns] and they elected him anyway." Questions: Can you really make this argument when he lost the popular vote? Not sure if this reasoning holds up under Electoral College math…. https://t.co/Te38HQznLj
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) April 7, 2019
Mick Mulvaney shamelessly gaslights about fact that Trump repeatedly promised he would release his tax returns during the campaign
"That's an issue that was litigated during the election. Voters knew Trump could've given his tax returns, he didn't, & they elected him anyway" pic.twitter.com/mWiprA6fc0
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 7, 2019
Every president and major-party nominee since Nixon has released their tax returns.
Nixon did so under audit.
Obama and Biden posted theirs publicly every year, knowing that, by law, they would automatically be audited.
But Mulvaney says no one will ever see Trump's taxes. pic.twitter.com/5dfBsjd1Ze
— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) April 7, 2019
You can watch the full interview below: