The Democrats waged a multilateral war against U.S. President Donald Trump after they won the majority in the House of Representatives in the elections on Nov. 6, 2018. Their aim is to debilitate Trump as much as possible until the presidential elections in 2020. The Democrats are challenging Trump in three areas. The first concern are certain claims in the final report on the “Russia Investigation” by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
In his report, Mueller had stated that Trump resorted to initiatives aimed at obstructing justice, yet these initiatives failed as they were not fulfilled by the bureaucrats. Democrats are pursuing Mueller’s findings. As for the Trump side, they do not want those involved in the attempt to stop him to take the stand as witnesses in Congress.
The Mueller Report was censored by the Department of Justice before being sent to Congress. Yet, the Democrats want to see what the underlying documents contain. Secretary of Justice William Barr is procrastinating this demand. Barr, who published a four-page summary of the report before it was submitted to Congress, had claimed that Trump was acquitted. Hence, Barr is also targeted by Democrats. The Democrats are pursuing the points Mueller left blank in the report.
The third challenge against Trump was concerning his six-year tax statements. Trump always likes to present himself as a billionaire real estate developer. However, Democrats are wondering how much tax Trump has paid. House of Representatives Chair Nancy Pelosi said, “We want to see the ‘Mueller Report,’ we want to see Trump’s tax statements,” signaling that they will be continuing the war.
The House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal, demanded the past six years’ tax returns of Trump and his affiliated companies from the IRS. Neal set April 10 as the deadline, yet this demand was delayed by the Department of Treasury. Neal granted delay for the second time until April 23. However, Secretary of Treasury Steven Munchin had announced that the final decision regarding the statements would be made after consulting the Department of Justice.
Trump’s companies’ credit transactions – including those of “Deutsche Bank” – are also under investigation. One other development is House Overseer Committee Chair Elijah Cummings’ demand to see the statements for the last decade from the company auditing the financial transactions of the “Trump Organization.” This initiative is based on the statements made in Congress by Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen. Cohen, who was tried within the scope of the “Russia Investigation,” made a deal with the Mueller team, and testified against Trump. Cummings announced that unless the company in question provides the requested documents, they would issue a subpoena. Meanwhile, the “Trump Organization” chose to file a case against Cummings in efforts to block the subpoena.
Trump is the second U.S. president since Richard Nixon to not share his tax statements with the public. Democrats Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Jay Inslee, and Beto O’Rouke, who announced their candidacy for the 2020 presidential elections, released their tax statements for the previous years, basically teaching Trump a lesson on morality. Trump’s attorneys are advocating that the tax statements need to be kept private as they may be leaked to the media. Meanwhile, the White House believes the violation of privacy concerning tax payers’ personal data will lead to severe constitutional problems.
According to certain interpretations, as the tax statements will eventually reach Congress, Trump needs to give up this fight. The war between Trump and the Democrats in Congress is raging. It seems the courts will have the final say.
