民主党控制的众议院筹款委员会(House Ways and Means Committee)周二投票决定公开一些与前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)纳税申报单有关的文件——特朗普长期以来一直反对这一举措。
周二下午，该委员会闭门会议了几个小时，然后在公开会议上以24票对16票的投票结果公布了与特朗普2015年至2020年纳税申报单有关的信息。
尚不清楚哪些文件将被公布或最终纳入委员会的报告，但在任何事情公开之前，将有两天时间编辑敏感信息。
马萨诸塞州民主党主席理查德.尼尔。投票结束后，他说，“这不是惩罚性的。这不是恶意的问题。”
该委员会早些时候一致投票决定在适当的时候公布一份不公开会议的记录。
在委员会开会之前，有人看到多箱特朗普纳税申报相关文件被推进房间。
委员会从财政部获得信息上个月，在美国最高法院驳回特朗普要求阻止法院命令他向委员会提交纳税申报单和其他财务记录。
这是特朗普第四次在高等法院就其税收请求提起的上诉中败诉。
目前还不清楚该委员会可能掌握了哪些重要的新信息。纽约的检察官已经能够获得一些数据，但委员会拥有的一些数据可能是最近才有的。
周二的投票是在众议院1月6日委员会投票后一天进行的关于川普的刑事转介给司法部。
该委员会要求特朗普提供六年的回报，作为它所说的对美国国税局总统和副总统审计行为调查的一部分。
在提交给最高法院的请愿书中，特朗普指责该委员会以虚假借口寻求他的税收。
11月，据透露，特朗普在大约10年前的两年时间里报告了近10亿美元的运营亏损会计师在特朗普集团的刑事审判中作证这位前总统曾多次试图保密的税收信息泄露给公众。
在众议院共和党人获得多数控制权的两周前，筹款委员会采取了行动。
最高法院没有对其决定做出解释，也没有明显的异议或投票失败。
“我们知道我们案件的优势，我们坚持到底，听从律师的建议，最后，我们的案件得到了最高法院的肯定，”尼尔主席当时说。“自《大宪章》以来，监督原则一直得到维护，今天也不例外。这超越了政治，委员会现在将进行我们过去三年半以来一直寻求的监督。”
尽管特朗普声称传票是出于政治动机的钓鱼行动，但该委员会表示，这些文件对于起草“公平税收管理立法，包括总统税收合规立法”至关重要。
该委员会的最高共和党人、德克萨斯州众议员凯文·布雷迪(Kevin Brady)指责民主党人在“匆忙瞄准”特朗普方面犯了一个重大错误。
布雷迪在周二会议前的一份声明中说:“民主党人正在释放一种危险的新政治武器，这种武器远远超出了特朗普总统的范围，并危及每个美国人的隐私。”。
“展望未来，国会中的党羽几乎拥有无限的权力，通过获取并公开他们的个人纳税申报单来打击和摧毁他们。这不仅限于公职人员，还可以针对普通公民、商业和劳工领袖以及最高法院法官，”他说。
在议员们聚集之前不久，他附和说，“我们今天树立的先例将对民主中的纳税人产生严重后果。”
Trump tax return-related documents to be released by congressional committee
The Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee voted Tuesday to make public some documents related to former President Donald Trump's tax returns -- a move Trump has long fought.
The committee met for several hours behind closed doors Tuesday afternoon and then returned to vote 24-16 in open session to release the information related to Trump's tax returns from 2015-2020.
It's not clear what documents will be released or ultimately included in the committee's report but there will be two days to redact sensitive information before anything is made public.
Chairman Richard Neal, D- Mass., said after the vote, "This is not being punitive. This is not about being malicious."
The committee earlier unanimously voted to have a transcript of the closed proceedings released when appropriate.
Before the committee met, multiple boxes of Trump tax return-related documents were seen being wheeled into the room.
The committee obtained the information from the Treasury Department last month, after the U.S. Supreme Court denied Trump's request to block an appears court order that he surrender his tax returns and other financial records to the committee.
It marked the fourth time Trump had lost a high court appeal related to requests for his taxes.
It's not immediately clear what significant new information might be in the committee's possession. Prosecutors in New York have already been able to access some of the data, but some of what the committee has could be more recent.
Tuesday's vote came a day after the House Jan. 6 committee voted to make criminal referrals about Trump to the Justice Department.
The committee had requested six years' worth of Trump's returns as part of what it said was an investigation into IRS audit practices of presidents and vice presidents.
In his petition to the Supreme Court, Trump accused the committee of seeking his taxes under false pretenses.
In November, it was revealed that Trump reported nearly $1 billion in operating losses over a two-year period about a decade ago when an accountant testified at the criminal trial of the Trump Organization, spilling into public tax information that the former president has tried repeatedly to keep private.
The Ways and Means Committee move comes just two weeks before House Republicans are set to take majority control.
The Supreme Court offered no explanation for its decision and there was no noted dissent or vote breakdown.
"We knew the strength of our case, we stayed the course, followed the advice of counsel, and finally, our case has been affirmed by the highest court in the land," Chairman Neal said at the time. "Since the Magna Carta, the principle of oversight has been upheld, and today is no different. This rises above politics, and the Committee will now conduct the oversight that we've sought for the last three and a half years."
While Trump has claimed the subpoena is a politically motivated fishing expedition, the committee said the documents were critical for drafting "legislation on equitable tax administration, including legislation on the President's tax compliance."
The top Republican on the committee, Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, has accused Democrats of making a major mistake in a "rush to target" Trump.
"Ways and Means Democrats are unleashing a dangerous new political weapon that reaches far beyond President Trump, and jeopardizes the privacy of every American," Brady said in a statement ahead of Tuesday's meeting.
"Going forward, partisans in Congress have nearly unlimited power to target political enemies by obtaining and making public their private tax returns to embarrass and destroy them. This is not limited to public officials, but can target private citizens, business and labor leaders, and Supreme Court justices," he said.
He echoed that shortly before the members gathered, saying, "The precedent that we set today will have severe consequences for taxpayers in democracy."
