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On Monday, the personal lawyer of U.S President Donald Trump, William Consovoy urged the U.S Treasury Department not to hand over Trump’s tax returns to House Democrats. He also warned that releasing the documents to lawmakers will have a radical view of unchecked congressional power and it would turn the IRS into a political weapon. It was the 2^nd such letter written on behalf of Trump since the Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Richard Neal formally requested 6-years of the president’s personal and business tax returns earlier this month. On Saturday, Neal gave the IRS until April 23 to submit the tax returns. The U.S Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin said last week that he couldn’t meet an earlier deadline due to he needed to study the lawfulness of the request.

The fight over Trump’s tax returns is expected to turn into a protracted legal battle and it will likely make its way to the Supreme Court. Trump refused to provide his tax returns while running for president. He pointed to an ongoing audit as the reason he can’t release the documents. Neal used an obscure provision of the tax code to request the returns. He said his committee needs in order to evaluate the policy of automatic audits of presidential tax returns. Trump and his defenders argue that the request is being driven by politics and represents presidential harassment.

On Saturday, Neal argued in his letter that the White House administration has no authority to question how the committee would handle the information or the validity of its legislative purpose. William Consovoy said on Monday that the legal rationale behind Neal’s dismissal of the Treasury Department’s concerns was wrong. He said Trump administration officials have made privately, in this case, the intent of the law is more important than the letter of the law. Consovoy wrote, “Congress’s motives do matter under the Constitution. The request for Trump’s tax information doesn’t serve any legislative purpose”. It is noteworthy that Mnuchin oversees the IRS as the U.S Treasury Secretary. He is personally supervising the response to the request.