Opinion: Trump is counting on his hacks to keep his tax returns secret
Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Treasury secretary, speaks during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Wednesday, May 22, 2019.
What does this tell us? That as has happened so many times, the professional staff in an executive branch agency is attempting to carry out their tasks according to the law, which brings them into direct conflict with the political hacks Trump has appointed to run their agency. The truth is that neither Mnuchin nor Rettig has to be told to protect Trump’s tax returns like they’re safeguarding the nuclear codes. These people know exactly why they’re there, and they know what they’re supposed to do.
So outside of a few narrow cases like ongoing criminal investigations, there is simply no argument about this. The only other circumstance in which the IRS might be able to refuse, the memo suggests, would be if executive privilege were to be invoked. But even that is a long shot at best, since executive privilege is meant to safeguard things like the advice the president gets when making important policy decisions.
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