Pascrell Praises Release of Nixon Tax Return Precedent

Records provide clear evidence of Congress’s power to obtain Trump returns

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) reacted to the revelation by the House Ways and Means Committee of records of Richard Nixon’s tax returns that were obtained in 1973 and 1974 by the Joint Committee on Taxation under 26 U.S.C. § 6103(f).

“We already know that the law is on our side, but the primary sources released today are living proof of Congress’s power under Section 6103,” said Rep. Pascrell, a leader in Congress for obtaining Donald Trump’s tax returns under Section 6103. “In the worst days of Watergate, a congressional tax committee requested Richard Nixon’s tax returns and that very day the Internal Revenue Service complied and provided the records to Congress. The law worked because it is so clear. So we have the letter of the law and precedent on our side. Mnuchin and Rettig should stop acting like bodyguards for Donald Trump, respect the law, and fulfill our request for Trump’s records. You know you’re in bad straits when Richard Nixon is a model for obeying the rule of law, but here we are.”

Pascrell concluded, “Republicans, led by the Ranking Member from Texas, have called our pursuit, ‘unprecedented.’ They didn’t look very carefully – we found the precedent.”

Rep. Pascrell has been the most vocal proponent of the Congress reviewing President Trump’s tax returns. Since February 2017, Pascrell has led the call for the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means to invoke Section 6103 of the tax code to obtain Trump’s tax returns. In the 115th Congress, Republicans voted 18 times to block Democratic resolutions seeking the tax returns.

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