Trump Tax Returns News: House Committee Agrees To Short Delay For Supreme Court Consideration

The U.S. Supreme Court ordered a stay Monday to a lower court order requiring President Trump's accountants to turn over his tax returns to the House Oversight Committee.

The ruling came just hours after the committee suggested a 10-day delay in enforcing an order that required the information be turned over by Wednesday.

The case could redefine the relationship between the executive and legislative branches of the government.

House General Counsel Douglas Letter told the court he would file a brief opposing Trump’s attempt to quash the subpoena by Thursday.

The court later ordered the stay.

Trump is the first modern president to decline to release his tax returns, prompting both state and federal investigations. The Oversight Committee has said it wants access to his financial information to determine whether he has any conflicts of interest and whether federal ethics laws need to be changed. Lower courts have upheld the subpoena.

Attorney General William Barr said in a speech Friday to the Federalist Society the Democratic party is part of a “resistance” force out to “cripple, by any means necessary, a duly elected government” and guilty of trying to “sabotage” the administration.

The president’s attorneys have asked the court to take up the appeal of a second case as well, involving the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s demand for eight years of returns from Trump accounting firm Mazars. Trump’s attorneys have argued that since he’s a sitting president and cannot be prosecuted, he also should be immune from investigation.

The New York demand is related to hush money paid to two women who said they had sex with Trump years before he began his presidential run – although one of the payments was made during the 2016 presidential campaign. District Attorney Cyrus Vance has agreed not to enforce the subpoena while the appeal is ongoing.

The House Ways and Means Committee also is attempting to get Trumps returns from the U.S. Treasury Department, but Secretary Steven Mnuchin has blocked the move. A judge overseeing the suit in that case has refused to fast track it.

Elsewhere, California has passed a law requiring presidential candidates to release five years of tax returns, and New York now has a law requiring the state to hand over state tax returns to Congress on demand.