LOL! Trump Ain't Getting That Wall, But We Will See Them Taxes

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
Auntie Maxine says so!

:lol:


linus.jpg



. . . because President Trump is losing his Republican security blanket in Congress.

https://theweek.com/articles/814890/trump-losing-republican-security-blanket-2019
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
source: Newsone

Maxine Waters Plans To Turn Up The Heat On Corporations That Lack Diversity
Some top companies are in panic mode, according to lobbyists.

Corporate America has been put on notice about its lack of diversity by California’s Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, who is poised to chair a key congressional committee.

Waters intends to use her new authority to pressure companies to hire more people of color and women to serve in top positions, Politico reported on Wednesday.

After sweeping House Republicans out of power in the midterm elections, Waters is expected to make history on Jan. 3 as the first woman and first African-American chair of the House Financial Services Committee. That enables her to turn up the heat on American’s wealthiest corporations.

The lack of diversity at Fortune 500 companies is shameful. About 73 percent of whites hold senior executive positions, according to Fortune. Asians represent 21 percent of business leaders, while Latinx and Blacks hold just 3 percent and 2 percent of those positions respectively.

Behind the scenes, some firms are reportedly panicking at the thought of Congress putting them under a public microscope over their hiring practices.

“They have a right to be nervous. They should feel the fire is getting started and will burn, at least for two years, and hopefully beyond,” said Missouri’s Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver who is a member of the financial services committee and the Congressional Black Caucus.




Waters wants to create a subcommittee that will focus on corporate diversity. As a first step, legislation is already prepared that’s aimed at compelling corporations to reveal how many minorities and woman are on their boards.

White male dominance on corporate boards drew national attention in June when Mellody Hobson moved up into the role of Starbucks’ vice chair after the departure of Executive Chairman Howard Schultz.

She is one of the few African Americans who holds multiple board memberships on the nation’s wealthiest companies. Hobson, who has served on Starbucks’ board since 2005, has defied the odds. JP Morgan Chase & Co. also appointed her to its board, and she has been on Estee Lauder‘s board since 2004.

African Americans have made small gains in diversifying corporate boards. Black men increased their boardroom presence by 2 percent and Black women by 18.4 from 2012 to 2016, according to a multi-year study by the Alliance for Board Diversity (ABD).

The ABD report found that Blacks had the highest rate among all demographics of serving on multiple boards, which falls right in step with Hobson’s professional achievements, according to Ronald C. Parker, ABD’s chairman.

It’s an indication “that companies are going to the same individuals rather than expanding the pool of African-American candidates for board membership,” Parker told the New York Times in 2017.

Few companies have taken steps over the years to diversify, a financial industry insider told Politico.

“Now companies are focused like a laser on identifying top African-American talent with Congressional Black Caucus relationships to help them understand and mitigate the striking lack of diversity within their corporations,” the person added.


 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
source: Huffington Post


Republicans Ask Democrats To Please Leave Trump’s Tax Returns ALONE
Top House Republicans decry an oversight tactic that they used in the Obama years.



WASHINGTON ― Republicans in Congress have formally asked Democrats to stop trying to get their hands on President Donald Trump’s tax returns.

Democrats are holding a hearing Thursday on the importance of disclosing Trump’s tax information, which would reveal how much money he makes, who pays him and how much tax he pays.

Top-ranking Republicans on the House tax committee asked its chairman not to request the documents, even though federal law explicitly gives him the power to do so ― and even though Republicans used that power to oversee Barack Obama’s administration.

“Transparency in our government is enormously important, but must be undertaken with appropriate care,” Reps. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) wrote in a Thursday letter to Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.).

“Weaponizing our nation’s tax code by targeting political foes only serves to weaken our system of government, not strengthen it,” Brady and Neal wrote. “If there are valid concerns with financial disclosure, then let’s come together to legislate a thoughtful solution to require additional disclosures.”

Trump broke with precedent of the last 40 years by refusing to release his tax returns during the 2016 presidential campaign. And he broke with tradition when he took office without divesting from his businesses.

It’s normal for congressional committees to conduct oversight of the executive branch, but Trump said during his State of the Union address on Tuesday that Democrats should lay off.

“If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation,” Trump said.


Ways and Means can obtain anyone’s tax returns under a provision of the tax code. This provision has existed since the 1920s, when Congress enabled three congressional committees to obtain the president’s tax returns without the chief executive’s consent. Those committees can then release those tax returns to the full House or Senate if they choose. The Joint Committee on Taxation famously did so in 1974 when it sent its report on President Richard Nixon’s tax returns to the House.

In 2014, Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee used their authority under the same provision to obtain the tax information of several private groups that were seeking nonprofit status from the IRS. They then voted to release that information publicly in a letter that sought criminal prosecution of a former IRS official for allegedly targeting conservative groups for audits.

Brady and Kelly were members of Ways and Means in 2014, as were several other Republicans currently on the committee.

At the hearing, a panel of four expert witnesses testified that the committee has broad authority to request tax returns from the president or anyone else. But Republicans argued the committee had no need to obtain Trump’s returns because the IRS is mandated to audit them and the president already has to make other financial disclosures.

The witnesses, however, argued that Congress sought Nixon’s tax returns because they did not trust the IRS to properly audit the president’s taxes without undue influence, and because tax returns contain different information than what’s required by mandatory financial disclosures.

Representatives for Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin have said he would review any requests “for legality,” suggesting the Trump administration would defy Congress ― and defy the law.

“I don’t see any wiggle room in the statute for the secretary to refuse a request,” George Yin, a tax expert at the University of Virginia Law School, testified.

This story has been updated with details from Thursday’s hearing.
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
source: NBC News

Tax expert tells Congress there is 'a lot to find' in Trump's returns
The House Ways and Means Committee kicked off its attempts to obtain the president's filings Thursday.


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Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, speaks at a hearing on April 12, 2018.


WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump exhibited “aggressive tax planning” prior to his 2016 election and “could have eliminated his taxes for a couple of decades” by claiming millions in business-related losses, tax expert Steven Rosenthal told a congressional panel Thursday.

“There is a lot to find,” said Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center who has scrutinized portions of Trump’s 1995 and 2005 returns last year in partnership with the New York Times.


Rosenthal was among several nonpartisan tax experts who testified at the first Democratic-run House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Trump’s taxes. The hearing was intended to begin “building the public case for why the American people deserve to know something — anything — about Trump’s finances,” said a Democratic leadership aide who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The experts affirmed the tax-writing committee’s authority to obtain Trump's returns from the U.S. Treasury — kicking off a pitched battle by the new House leadership to obtain the documents that every U.S. president dating to Richard Nixon has voluntarily disclosed to the public.

“The committee can ask for anything it wants” and Trump is not prohibited from releasing his returns while under audit, said George K. Yin, a law and taxation professor at the University of Virginia School of Law.

Further, “I know of no instance in which a request has been refused,” he said, as long as Congress demonstrates a “legitimate purpose.”

Republicans on the committee protested the attempts. They insisted that the Internal Revenue Service is already examining the president’s taxes by audit and that there is no precedent for forcing the release of tax returns during an active special counsel investigation, a reference to Robert Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

“This is all about weaponizing our tax laws” to target “political foes,” Rep. Jackie Walorski, an Indiana Republican, said.

There was also disagreement over the process by which the House Ways and Means Committee could release the returns to the general public.

Ken Kies, a former Republican chief of staff of the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation and managing director of the Federal Policy Group, warned that releasing any U.S. taxpayer’s returns to the general public is “to commit a felony.” Further, he said, the current IRS audits of Trump’s returns are probably already “pretty intense.”

Democratic members of the panel agreed there would need to be a vote both within the committee and by the full U.S. House before the returns could be made public.

Noah Bookbinder, executive director at the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which has been conducting numerous investigations of the Trump administration, offered examples of what the public could learn from Trump’s returns -- beginning with whether he has been complying with all U.S. laws.

Bookbinder cited a New York Times report that Trump’s family had “engaged in a tax avoidance scheme,” a current investigation by the New York attorney general into Trump’s former foundation and whether it broke the law by coordinating with his 2016 presidential campaign.

Further, it’s unclear how Trump has benefited from tax legislation that is his signature legislative achievement. Trump and his family could have personally benefited by more than $1 billion by the tax bill, Rep. Lloyd Dogget, D-Texas, said.

“Tax transparency would open the public’s eyes,” Bookbinder said, adding “that could lead to greater accountability.”

The Democratic aide cautioned that Trump’s taxes are part of a far broader inquiry into the president's finances that will span six different congressional committees.

On Wednesday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said his committee has begun "to pursue credible reports of money laundering and financial compromise related to the business interests of President Trump, his family, and his associates. The president’s actions and posture towards Russia during the campaign, transition, and administration have only heightened fears of foreign financial or other leverage over President Trump.”
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
source: NBC News

House Democrats formally request Trump's tax returns

It's just the opening salvo in what’s sure to be a prolonged battle with the administration to see returns the president has refused to release.


WASHINGTON — Democrats have officially launched their assault on President Donald Trump's tax returns.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., on Wednesday evening said he had filed a formal request with the Treasury Department for the documents.

“I today submitted to IRS Commissioner Rettig my request for six years of the president’s personal tax returns as well as the returns for some of his business entities. We have completed the necessary groundwork for a request of this magnitude and I am certain we are within our legitimate legislative, legal, and oversight rights,” Neal said in a statement.

It’s just the opening salvo in what’s sure to be a prolonged battle with the administration to see returns the president has refused to release.

Trump, who was meeting with senior military officials in the Cabinet Room, seemed unimpressed when he was told about the request for six years of returns by a reporter.

"Is that all? Usually it's 10, so I guess they're giving up," Trump quipped, before maintaining that he was still "under audit."

"I'm always under audit, it seems," he said. "Until such time as I'm not under audit, I would not be inclined to do that."

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said at a Ways and Means hearing last month that he would protect the president’s privacy if members of Congress tried to request his tax returns.

“I have discussed with the legal department in the Treasury that we will most likely receive this request. As I have said, based upon the request we'll examine it and we will follow the law,” Mnuchin said then. “And we will protect the president as we would protect any individual taxpayer under their rights.”

Democrats have been demanding to see Trump’s tax returns since the 2016 presidential campaign, with Neal’s request just the first stage of what will likely be a lengthy legal battle to obtain them. Since he was a candidate, Trump has claimed he can’t release them because he’s under audit by the IRS.

Ways and Means is one of three congressional committees that has the authority to seek to obtain the president's returns. The other two are the Senate Finance Committee and the Joint Committee on Taxation.

NBC News reported last month that Neal had asked his committee’s attorneys to prepare the request for the tax returns.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told NBC News Wednesday that he believes the Democratic request for Trump’s tax returns is “political,” and that while congressional oversight is legitimate, “doing it for political purposes is not legitimate.”

In early March, Grassley had told reporters if House Democrats were to request the returns, he expected his committee would do the same, but said that they’d remain private required by law. Grassley, however, said Wednesday he doesn’t think he will also request his returns in response to Neal's move.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has repeatedly reiterated that it is up to the Ways and Means panel to decide whether to request Trump’s returns.

As the committee's chairman, Neal has the power to send a written request to the IRS to provide the information. If the Treasury Department were to deny it, House Democrats will have to decide whether to pursue the tax returns through a legal route. If they are obtained, Neal would then have to designate the panel’s members as “agents” to read the returns. They would then have to vote to make the documents public and report them to the full House.
 
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thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
source: NPR

Congress Really Can Demand, And Get, Trump's Tax Returns. Here's How


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President Trump has refused to divest himself of businesses and investments that could pose conflicts of interest. For example, the Trump International Hotel (seen here), located just blocks from the White House, regularly hosts events with foreign diplomats, interest groups and industry associations.


House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi vowed this week to demand President Trump's tax returns if Democrats win control of the House of Representatives next month.

Pelosi, seeking to regain her gavel as House speaker after elections in November, told The San Francisco Chronicle editorial board that the move "is one of the first things we'd do — that's the easiest thing in the world. That's nothing."

Trump, unlike other presidents in recent decades, has refused to make his returns public. He also has refused to divest himself of businesses and investments that could pose domestic or international conflicts of interest. For example, the Trump International Hotel, located just blocks from the White House, regularly hosts events with foreign diplomats, interest groups and industry associations.

By law, taxpayer information is supposed to remain confidential. But as University of Virginia law professor George Yin, author of a 2017 article on the law, told NPR, Congress didn't like being dependent on the executive branch to provide tax records.

When the "committee access" provision, as it's known, became law in 1924, Congress had been dealing with taxpayers' information in the Teapot Dome scandal afflicting the Harding administration and in a controversy involving former Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon. Like Trump, he had served in government while refusing to avoid conflicts of interest by letting go of his holdings.

The committee access provision has rarely been invoked, but here's how it would work:

  1. For the party in control of the House or Senate, making the request is easy. It would come from the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee (the House panel that writes tax law), Senate Finance Committee or Joint Committee on Taxation. Democrats have been badgering the Republican chairs of those panels to act since February 2017 without success.

  2. Once a request is made, no floor action is necessary. The request would go to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who oversees the IRS — not to the taxpayer in the Oval Office, who would officially be out of the loop. Yin said the 1924 law "gave the tax committees the unqualified right to request the tax returns of any taxpayer."

  3. What would happen next is uncharted territory. Based on recent events, Trump might deploy Justice Department lawyers, and perhaps private lawyers, to fight the request in court. The process might resemble the not-infrequent legal battles over congressional subpoenas for executive branch documents. But the committee access provision has never been before a federal judge.

  4. Were Congress to get access to Trump's returns, it would be easy for lawmakers to disclose the information, despite various privacy protections that exist for taxpayers. The chair or committee with Trump's tax returns could submit them to the full House or Senate if there's a legitimate legislative purpose. At that point, the returns would very likely quickly become available for the public to see on the Internet.
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor


Getting closer!



source: NBC news

A federal judge Monday rejected President Donald Trump’s claim that he was immune from criminal investigations as part of his bid to block a subpoena from the Manhattan district attorney seeking eight years of personal and business tax returns.

The judge, Victor Marrero, tossed the lawsuit Trump's legal team brought against District Attorney Cyrus Vance that argued Vance should not receive Trump's tax returns because "'[v]irtually all legal commenters agree' that a sitting President of the United States is not 'subject to the criminal process' while he is in office.”


In a 75-page order, Marrero called the presidential immunity Trump invoked in the lawsuit to stop the production of tax documents "unqualified and boundless."

"The president asserts an extraordinary claim in the dispute now before this court," Marrero wrote. "This Court cannot endorse such a categorical and limitless assertion of presidential immunity from" the judicial process.

A grand jury subpoena for the documents was issued by the Manhattan D.A.’s office to Mazars USA, which prepares the president’s tax returns, a little more than a month ago as part a probe into the Trump Organization about payments made to two women who allegedly had affairs with the president. Trump has denied the affairs.

The president's attorneys have filed an emergency order of appeal.

The White House, Trump's attorneys and the Manhattan district attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment from NBC News.

This is a breaking news story, check back for updates.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

BTW,

New York State's Attorney General is a Sister!

Letitia James.

After Trump deals with her, he's going to have to deal with Congresswoman Waters.

LOL!



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Mrfreddygoodbud

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
I just cant believe this muthafucka has the the gigantic orange balls to

not show personal documents after whining for years about another man...

who SHOWED his personal documents.....

and this man is actually president of the most powerful military force of this century

and he will look you right in your face..... lie... and smack you for being decietful....

if I could make some shit like this up Id be a millionaire....

the dude who writes a perfect uncensored tell all book about this presidency is gonna be loaded...the book and movie deal is gonna be HUUGE!!

because after omarosa recorded shit.. you KNOW muthafuckas are recording everything he does... I bet they have tons of undercover video....
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
source: New York Times


Congress Can Seek Trump’s Financial Records, Appeals Court Rules

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A panel of appeals court judges ruled in favor of House Democrats seeking President Trump’s tax returns.

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s accounting firm must turn over eight years of financial records to a House committee, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday, handing the president a significant defeat in his attempts to block the release of the returns.

The House Reform and Oversight Committee issued a subpoena earlier this year demanding that Mazars USA, the president’s accounting firm, hand over the records. Mr. Trump’s lawyers accused Democrats on the committee of conducting a witch hunt with no legitimate purpose.

On Friday, a three-judge federal panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia sided 2-1 with the Democrats, saying that the committee has the right to the documents.

“Contrary to the president’s arguments, the committee possesses authority under both the House Rules and the Constitution to issue the subpoena, and Mazars must comply,” the appeals court panel wrote in its opinion. Mr. Trump appointed the dissenting judge, Neomi Rao.

The ruling is a significant loss for the president, who often boasts of his wealth but has adamantly refused to release his tax returns since he began his campaign for president. His lawyers could appeal the case to the full appellate court or the Supreme Court.

“We conclude that the public record reveals legitimate legislative pursuits, not an impermissible law-enforcement purpose, behind the committee’s subpoena,” the judges wrote.

The president also suffered a defeat this week in a similar case in which the Manhattan district attorney has sought the president’s tax records from Mazars. A federal judge ruled that the accounting firm must hand over the tax records to the district attorney.

The president’s lawyers won an emergency stay of the ruling.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
 

kes1111

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
source: NBC News
Tax expert tells Congress there is 'a lot to find' in Trump's returns
The House Ways and Means Committee kicked off its attempts to obtain the president's filings Thursday.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump exhibited “aggressive tax planning” prior to his 2016 election and “could have eliminated his taxes for a couple of decades” by claiming millions in business-related losses, tax expert Steven Rosenthal told a congressional panel Thursday.

“This is all about weaponizing our tax laws” to target “political foes,” Rep. Jackie Walorski, an Indiana Republican, said.
US national news
·
Yesterday
US Representative Jackie Walorski was killed in a car crash on Wednesday, according to her office
Representative Walorski, 58, was a republican congresswoman from Indiana. She served on the House Ways and Means Committee and was first elected to represent Indiana's 2nd Congressional District in 2012. Prior to that, she served on Indiana's state legislature for three terms. The two-vehicle crash occurred in her home district and killed two other people in the vehicle. A 55-year-old woman in the second vehicle was also killed, The AP reports.
 
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