After a memo was released on Tuesday saying that Donald Trump must hand over his tax returns to Congress, Rachel Maddow explained that it’s no surprise that the president installed one of his buddies earlier this year to be the chief lawyer at the IRS.
“According to the IRS’s own legal reasoning, the Trump administration must hand over Trump’s tax returns to Congressman Richard Neal of Massachusetts,” the MSNBC pointed out, citing the newly revealed memo. “No wonder the president wanted to install a new chief lawyer at the IRS who might look at these matters differently.”
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Rachel Maddow says a newly released IRS memo explains why Trump tried to install one of his buddies to a top post at the agency. #ctl #p2 #maddow pic.twitter.com/fCKGRr4oug
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Maddow said:
So this is new. According to the IRS’s own legal reasoning, the Trump administration must hand over Trump’s tax returns to Congressman Richard Neal of Massachusetts. They must. They can try to exert executive privilege to block it, but good luck. That’s not going to work either. The law might even block that. Basically, you got to do it. It’s mandatory, says the IRS. No wonder the president wanted to install a new chief lawyer at the IRS who might look at these matters differently.
The number two official at the IRS must recuse himself from matters related to Trump’s tax returns
As Rachel Maddow pointed out on Tuesday, the number two official at the IRS – Michael Desmond, who Trump personally fought to have installed – was previously partners at a D.C. law firm with the president’s current tax lawyers.
Not to mention the fact that, as Maddow also noted, Desmond admitted to having previously advised the Trump Organization on tax-related matters.
Now, as Congress finds itself in the thick of a battle to legally obtain the president’s tax returns, it’s unclear who in the IRS will be making the final call as it relates to the release of the documents.
One thing is clear, however: The man Trump personally installed to be the IRS’s top lawyer should have nothing to do with it.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
