Donald Trump Sues to Block Congress from Obtaining His Tax Returns

President Trump has filed a civil lawsuit to prevent the House Ways and Means Committee from obtaining his tax returns from New York state officials. 

The lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in Washington against the House panel, New York State Attorney General Letitia James, and New York State Department of Taxation and Finance commissioner Michael Schmidt, seeks an injection to block a new state law.

The law, which went into effect earlier this month, would allow the Democrat-controlled House and Ways Means Committee to obtain the returns.

“Once it became clear that Treasury would not divulge the President’s federal tax returns, New York passed a law allowing the Committee to get his state returns,” reads the court filing read. “That hyper-specific condition was, not coincidentally, already satisfied for the intended target of the Act: President Trump.”

“New York legislators admitted that the TRUST Act’s purpose was to help the Committee expose the President’s private tax information for political gain; its purpose was their purpose,” the filing continues.

“The President is entitled to relief. Because the Committee’s jurisdiction is limited to federal taxes, no legislation could possibly result from a request for the President’s state tax returns,” the filing states. “The Committee thus lacks legitimate legislative purpose for using the TRUST Act.”

This is the latest legal front on which President Trump is battling House Democrats.

The committee sued the Treasury Department and IRS officials this month in an attempt to enforce a law that allows its chairman to obtain any taxpayer’s returns.

“Without reviewing the requested return materials, the Committee cannot ensure that the IRS’s audit process is functioning fairly and effectively, understand how provisions of the tax code are impacted by President Trump’s returns or exercise its legislative judgment to determine whether changes to the code may be warranted,” the lawsuit reads.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.