when we get back into the congress, that will be the first question on my mind when ways and means committee meets. we re not joking around. nobody is above the law. hear me, read my lips, mr. president, former. yeah, very important words. obviously, oversight is an incredible part of this. you just outlined that this has been years in the making, my question to you realistically, when democrats get their hands on this, or when the congress or committee gets their hands on this, you re only going to be in power for a few more weeks. realistically, what can ways and meanst do with the information that the committee gleans from the taxhe returns. 6103, subsection j subsection f, i m sorry, is very clear. we are not allowed to scream to the heavens when we get this document. we have to honor it, it s
tax returns. and then, as again, you can imagine, trumpyo sued the committee to block them from obtaining those tax returns. and finally, today, after a long court battle, today, just today, the committee finally got their answer. the supreme court of the united states in a two-sentence order denied trump s request to block the tax returns from being handed over. trump s last-ditch attempt to stop the committee from obtaining those tightly held ta returns failed. and now, the committee is clear to get those six years worth of tax returns from donald trump and some of his businesses. but it s not exactly clear as to when they will get those tax returns. while that all is all welcome news for house democrats, the reality is the clock is ticking in terms of what legislative priorities the committee can recommend byti examining s trums tax returns. in just 42 days, the new republican-controlled congress
returns for you. is it surprising to you that the court cleared the way for the house for this? it s not surprising. not a single judge dissented today which says a lot about trump s application. it reminds me when chief justice john roberts was in private practice and one day he called his client, i ve got bad news, we lost 9-0, and the client says, how could that be? and justice roberts said that s because there wasn t ten supreme court justices on the court. note notably losing on the jf committee on executive privilege 8 to 1, and it s significant, because he s been trying to hide the tax returns for 8 1/2 years. first modern president to do so
not have. it a written in federal law that the chairman could request any taxpayers tax returns. so, they had the law on their side with their request. inr april, 2019, when the hous ways and means committee chair requested six years of then president donald trump and his enterprise tax returns, it seemed like at the time an open andat shut case. chairman richard neal explained at the time that his committee needs to request trump s tax returns for quote, legitimate, legislative, legal and oversight purposes. to examine the tax returns of sitting presidents to see what, if any, laws needed to be amended or clarified. to no one s surprise, the trump treasury department refused to hand them over. and as you can imagine, a legal battle ensued. but then something happened in 2021. a new president took office. and the deal was reached for the committee to finally get those