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Trump: ‘I Don’t Care’ if House Democrats Release My Tax Returns

President also downplays difficulty of split government

The Internal Revenue Service building in Washington. President Donald Trump says he wouldn’t care if House Democrats release his tax returns. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
The Internal Revenue Service building in Washington. President Donald Trump says he wouldn’t care if House Democrats release his tax returns. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

President Trump claimed Monday he is not concerned about House Democrats obtaining and releasing his tax returns if they win the House majority in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

“I don’t care,” he told reporters as he arrived in Indiana for a campaign rally.

“They can do whatever they want, and I can do whatever I want,” the president said, according to a pool report.

[Live Blog: Updates from Trump’s Final Day on Campaign Trail]

He has refused to release his tax records as other politicians and presidents have, with White House aides contending he is still in the midst of what would be a lengthy IRS audit — which itself does not bar anyone from releasing tax details. 

Control of the House comes with subpoena power and the ability to use it to get his returns and potentially make them public.

Some Democrats and Trump critics have long suggested the records would show the president is not worth as much as he claims. In May 2016, he contended a net worth “in excess” of $10 billion.

Meantime, he also was asked how he will respond if Democrats win the House.

“We’ll just have to work a little bit differently,” he told reporters without elaborating on those different tactics.

While he has signed an anti-opioids bill and annual spending measures, he has yet to help broker a single piece of bipartisan legislation; for instance, he helped nix a compromise Senate immigration bill and several White House directed infrastructure weeks have produced no broad legislation. 

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