Department of Justice orders to release to Congress the tax returns that Trump has been hiding for years

By Pete Williams - NBC News

The Justice Department indicated this Friday that

the Treasury Department must deliver the tax returns of former President Donald Trump to a congressional committee

that has been requesting them for two years without success. 

The Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice assured that the Committee of Means and Procedures of the House of

Representatives has given "sufficient reasons" to receive that information.

"We conclude that the Treasury Department must provide the information specified in the June 21 request," the ruling reads.

[Top 10 Shocking Revelations About Trump And His Business From His Tax Returns]

Congressman Richard Neal, Chairman of the Committee on Means and Procedures, celebrated the decision: "As I have said for years, the case is very strong and the law is on our side," said the Massachusetts Democrat, "I am glad that the Department Justice agrees and we can move forward. "

They will file charges against the Trump Organization and its CFO for tax crimes

July 1, 2021

Neal did not immediately respond to questions about how soon the tax returns would be delivered to him, but

unless Trump can persuade a federal court to intervene, Congress will soon have his 2015-2020 tax documents.

Neal requested that tax information in April 2019, citing

a federal law

that requires the Treasury Department to turn over individual tax returns when required by any of the three congressional tax committees.

The same law also says that Congress must keep the statements it requests confidential.

[The Supreme Court forces Trump to hand over his tax data to justice but not to Congress]

But

the Trump Administration declined to provide the documents,

arguing that Congress had no legitimate legislative purpose to search for them and was simply hoping to find something that would embarrass the then president.

In a 2019 opinion, with Trump still in the White House, the Office of the Legal Counsel agreed and said that the congressional demand was invalid.

But in Friday's opinion, the bureau said its previous analysis "was off the mark" by

failing to give a branch of government alongside it the "respect and deference"

it deserves.

Then-President Donald Trump speaks to the media at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on January 12, 2021, before boarding Air Force One to visit the US-Mexico border wall in Texas.

Carlos Barria / Reuters

When a Congressional tax committee requests tax information, "the executive branch should conclude that the request lacks a legitimate legislative purpose only in exceptional circumstances," the office said.

There has been no immediate response from the former president.

"The statute is what it is,"

said Steve Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

Vladeck considers it unlikely that Trump will be able to get a federal court to block the transfer.

[Court of Appeals finds in favor of the Manhattan prosecutor asking for Trump's taxes.

The president can appeal to the Supreme Court]

"But is it possible that

Trump can get a judge to prevent the statements from being delivered

while the courts take the time to come to the merits of the case? That seems more plausible, although not terribly likely," he said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, praised Neal for following up on the former president's documents.

"Access to Trump's tax returns

is a matter of national security," he

said in a statement, "The American people deserve to know the facts and facts behind his troubling conflicts of interest and what he did to harm our safety and security. democracy as president ".