Mulvaney on Trump’s Tax Returns: Democrats Will ‘Never’ See Those, ‘Nor Should They’

Acting chief of staff called pressure by the Left 'a political stunt'

By Maureen Mackey | April 7, 2019

In an exclusive interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff, said that Democrats will “never” see President Donald Trump’s tax returns and that “voters knew the president could have given his tax returns [during the election]. They knew that he didn’t and they elected him anyway.”

Mulvaney’s remarks followed comments by the president himself earlier this week on the topic after those on the Left renewed calls for Trump’s tax data.

“Oh, no, never — nor should they [see the returns],” Mulvaney (shown above right) told Fox News’ Bill Hemmer, who was sitting in for host Chris Wallace.

Mulvaney added Democrats “know” they won’t get the returns — and that they “just want attention on the issue because they don’t want to talk to us about policy.”

Mulvaney also said that the conclusions of the Mueller report, as presented in Attorney General Bill Barr’s summary, caught the Democrats “flat-footed.” He said that “they  really did believe that Mueller would find collusion and find obstruction. In fact, they invest very heavily in that, and then to be blindsided like that, to find out there’s no obstruction, no collusion — I really think they were never expecting it.”

“The Democrat Party is infested with what we call Trump Derangement Syndrome,” added Mulvaney. ” They still cannot accept the fact that he won like the election and they will do anything they can to try and either undo that or prevent that from happening again.”

He said that “if they don’t get what they want in the [Robert] Mueller [special counsel’s] report, they’re going to ask for the taxes. [And] if they don’t get what they want in the taxes, they’re going to ask for something else. It doesn’t surprise anybody.”

He also called it a “political stunt” by the Democrats.

This past Wednesday at the White House, a reporter said to Trump that Democrats wanted to see his tax returns for the past six years.

“Is that all? Usually it’s 10,” Trump replied, not missing a beat. “So I guess they’re giving up. We’re under audit, despite what people said, and we’re working that out. I’m always under audit, it seems, but I’ve been under audit for many years, because the numbers are big, and I guess when you have a name, you’re audited. But until such time as I’m not under audit, I would not be inclined to do that.”

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Wednesday’s request by Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), who leads the House Ways and Means Committee, was “the first such demand for a sitting president’s tax information in 45 years,” as Fox News pointed out.

“The move set up a virtually certain legal showdown with the White House.”

Neal told the IRS that Democrats have a duty “to ensure that the Internal Revenue Service is enforcing the laws in a fair and impartial manner.”

“It is critical to ensure the accountability of our government and elected officials,” Neal said in a statement. “To maintain trust in our democracy, the American people must be assured that their government is operating properly, as laws intend.” He also demanded all administrative files, including affidavits.

Speaking later on Sunday on the same Fox News program, Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) said that Trump had promised to release his tax returns during the 2016 presidential campaign.

“This [request] is not political,” Luján declared.

Also on Sunday, Mulvaney told Hemmer, “They know one of the fundamental principles of the IRS is to protect the confidentiality of you and me and everybody else who files taxes. They know that. They know the terms under law by which the IRS can give them the documents — but a political hit job is not one of those reasons.”

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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