Democrats have held the House for less than a month, but President Trump has been preparing for their arrival far longer.
Specifically, the president is worried about a long-held Democratic talking point: that Trump should release his tax returns. And once they eventually, inevitably ask the IRS for those records, Trump has a "two-pronged scheme" to fight back, Politico reports.
If the IRS privately gives House Democrats Trump's past tax records, they'll definitely leak them, committing a felony, a league of Treasury Department loyalists reportedly plan to argue. "So because Democrats can't be trusted to keep the documents private, they shouldn't get them in the first place," Politico writes of the first step in the Trump team's strategy.
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Beyond that "nakedly partisan exercise," Trump's Treasury team also intends to subject the Democrats' request to "a quagmire of arcane legal arguments," Politico writes. There's no precedent for a Treasury Secretary blatantly refusing to hand over IRS files, so there's reportedly a chance Steven Mnuchin will do just that. The legal fight that ensues could continue "well into the 2020 campaign," Politico details.
The Treasury Department would only say "Mnuchin will review any request with the treasury general counsel for legality." The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the reported scheme, which you can read more about at Politico.
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