On Friday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) stated that the release of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns is “Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee weaponizing their role against what is now a private citizen” and that if they want to require presidents to release their tax returns, they should pass a law to require it for everyone, instead of “targeting one individual.”
Host David Westin asked, [relevant exchange begins around 22:50] “[T]hese Trump tax returns, I haven’t gone through them. I suspect you haven’t gone through them. I don’t know what’s in there. Who knows whether it’s right, wrong, or indifferent? But I wonder, more broadly, are we opening up a Pandora’s box here about releasing tax returns?”
Malliotakis responded, “I certainly think that this is the Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee weaponizing their role against what is now a private citizen. This has always been an issue that is left up to the discretion of the candidate. He was very honest and said he wasn’t releasing them and people elected him anyway. But, at the end of the day, if they want to require it by law, then they should do so in statute, not just targeting one individual. So, I think that is where it becomes a weaponization of the committee against a particular person who is a private citizen today. So, if you’re going to do it, you pass a law that requires everyone to release it, not just target one person.”
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