Supreme Court stops releasing Trump’s Pakistan tax documents after floods ‘on the brink’

The U.S. Supreme Court has suspended the release of former President Donald Trump’s tax documents to a House committee.

At Trump’s request, the presiding judge, John Roberts, on Tuesday ordered the IRS to suspend disclosure of the documents for the time being. Trump’s lawyers filed an urgent petition Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent the last-minute release. The Congressional Committee now has until Nov. 10 to respond to the motion.

An appeals court in Washington last week cleared the way to release Trump’s tax records to the commission. They should have been transferred from this Thursday. In recent years, Trump has opposed lower bodies of Congress to gain insight into his tax affairs.

Contrary to common practice in the United States, real estate entrepreneur Trump has not released his tax returns either as a presidential candidate or after moving into the White House. And to this day, he tries to avoid disclosure. Critics therefore suspect that he has something to hide.

The Treasury Department of the administration of Trump’s successor Joe Biden last year ordered the IRS to hand over the documents to the committee. Trump fought back in court and eventually asked the Washington Court of Appeals to stop it. The court rejected this in a first round in August. Trump then requested a re-examination, which was also rejected last week. As a result, he went to the Supreme Court.

A new United States House of Representatives will be elected on November 8. Should Republicans gain a majority in Congress, Trump could hope that the committee, under new leadership, will refrain from requesting the documents. The new Congress will meet in early January 2023.

Trump is currently grappling with a number of legal issues, including taking classified government documents to his private estate after leaving the White House. (aeg/sda/dpa)