National Law Journal, Judge Suggests Trump Could be Treated as Sitting President in Fight With Congress Over Tax Documents:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Thursday wrestled with whether former President Donald Trump should be treated like a sitting president or a private citizen in his bid to shield his tax records from a House committee.
Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson repeatedly noted that Trump was in office when the House Ways and Means Committee initially requested his tax returns in 2019 as part of an investigation into how the IRS audits presidents. She said the House’s ability to use document requests to gain “an institutional advantage” over the executive branch is still in play, even though Trump is no longer in office.
“We have been all wound up in who the president is at the time, who is the chairman, who is in the executive branch, including Treasury and the IRS,” she said. “We’ve got to look at this case as the executive branch vs. legislative branch as institutions.”
Henderson, nodding at the speculation that Trump will mount another presidential campaign in 2024, said “for all we know, if this case drags out, he could be a sitting president again” when it is resolved.
