Steve Mnuchin said on Wednesday that the Treasury is looking into who penned and leaked the confidential draft IRS memo that found Trump must provide his tax returns to Congress unless executive privilege is asserted.
A confidential IRS draft memo that was leaked to the Washington Post and published Tuesday evening, says President Trump must turn over his tax documents to Congress… unless he invokes executive privilege.
A copy of the 10-page memo, which was obtained by the Washington Post, says the disclosure of tax returns to the committee “is mandatory, requiring the Secretary to disclose returns, and return information, requested by the tax-writing Chairs.”
The memo was reportedly penned by a lawyer in the Office of Chief Counsel several months ago and did not represent the agency’s “official position.”
The mystery memo is stamped “DRAFT,” does not reference Trump and it wasn’t even signed, but as expected, the Democrats are using it to argue against the DOJ’s and Mnuchin’s stance against handing Trump’s tax returns over to Congress.
Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) grilled Mnuchin about the IRS memo that was probably penned by an Obama holdover with the intent to stir up trouble.
Mnuchin held his ground and repeatedly reminded the Democrat lawmaker that there are three separate branches of government.
At one point Mnuchin actually told Rep. Wexton that she had interpreted the memo incorrectly. OUCH.
“We’re trying to find out who wrote the memo, where it came from, when it was and why it wasn’t distributed,” Mnuchin added.
WATCH:
Secretary @stevenmnuchin1 to @RepWexton on confidential draft IRS memo regarding President Trump's tax returns: "We're trying to find out who wrote the memo, where it came from, when it was and why it wasn't distributed." pic.twitter.com/98CyRkDBUu
— CSPAN (@cspan) May 22, 2019
