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Justice Dept. backs Mnuchin’s refusal to turn over Trump’s taxes

The Justice Department says Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was right to withhold President Donald Trump's tax returns from a House committee that requested them.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks to media at the venue of G20 Finance Minister and Central Bank Governors Meeting Saturday, June 8, 2019, in Fukuoka, western Japan.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks to media at the venue of G20 Finance Minister and Central Bank Governors Meeting Saturday, June 8, 2019, in Fukuoka, western Japan.Read moreEugene Hoshiko / AP

The Justice Department says Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was right to withhold President Donald Trump’s tax returns from a House committee that subpoenaed them.

That's according to an opinion released Friday by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.

The House Ways and Means Committee had subpoenaed six years of Trump's tax returns in May. But the Treasury Department refused to provide the documents. Mnuchin said the request lacked a "legitimate legislative purpose."

The opinion says the request for Trump’s tax returns by chairman Richard Neal “amounted to an unprecedented use” of the committee’s authority. It says the request also “raised a serious risk of abuse.”

Democrats sought the tax returns under a 1924 law that directs the IRS to provide the information to the chairs of Congress’ tax-writing committees.