Lindsey Graham asks Supreme Court to block Georgia grand jury subpoena’s request for Trump tax returns President Donald Trump said Sunday the Supreme Court should not allow a federal judge to issue a subpoena compelling him to disclose the full transcripts of his tax returns. Graham wrote to U.S. District Judge Timothy Corcoran of Georgia asking him to block the subpoena. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images tax Trump legal battle: ‘We can’t wait for Trump’s term’ Lindsey Graham says: ‘We can’t wait for Trump’s term’
A divided Senate Republican Party on Saturday sided with President Donald Trump in a legal battle with an ethics watchdog over his tax returns.
A divided Senate Republican Party on Saturday sided with President Donald Trump in a legal battle with an ethics watchdog over his tax returns.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had insisted publicly that he and House Speaker Paul Ryan would side with Trump even on this issue and warned that they could lose all credibility if they sided with Democrats. But in fact the two Senate Republicans who would have been most likely to oppose Trump’s appeal, were the ones who voted for the subpoena in the first place. Their votes effectively validated Trump’s argument that the courts should make it tougher for him to avoid disclosing his returns.
Senate Finance Committee chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) voted with the majority on the subpoena, and he told POLITICO that Trump’s claim of a “lack of authority” was baseless.
“It doesn’t even have the authority of a court order,” he said on Friday. “It’s been brought by a non-lawyer, on a non-scheduled hearing. You need to get something in writing first. It certainly doesn’t seem like a proper use of the court.”
Hatch conceded that the IRS could issue the subpoena in the future, but he added: “I don’t think [Trump] has any problem with his taxes. He’s not going to have to tell the American people about his taxes until 2020.”
House Ways and Means Committee chairman Kevin Brady