CONGRESS/DEMS/TREASURY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP TAXES: “Democrats, eyeing control of a powerful House tax-writing committee next year, are studying a century-old provision in the federal tax code that could give them access to President Trump’s long-sought tax returns and eventually the ability to make them public. The powers laid out in an obscure 1920s addition to the tax code are clear: The leaders of Congress’s tax-writing committees, including the Ways and Means Committee in the House, are empowered to request from the Treasury Department tax returns or related information on any tax filer. Democrats could use that information to finally determine if Mr. Trump, who built a global business empire before entering politics, has problematic financial entanglements with Russia or other undisclosed conflicts of interest. They could also use such an inquiry to determine whether Mr. Trump violated the law before his election to avoid paying taxes.”
–Nicholas Fandos, “With a House Takeover, Democrats Could Get Trump’s Tax Returns. Would They?,” The New York Times online, October 16, 2018