Tonight.
Trump's tax returns
are now in the hands of House Democrats
on the Ways and Means Committee.
Look, this is a huge step.
It was a years
long battle to get these tax returns
right that no one's ever seen.
They cover six years of former
President Trump's taxes.
Information about his personal finances
is corporate entities.
This is crucial stuff.
And OUTFRONT
now is the Democratic Congressman, Lloyd
Doggett, the member of the House Ways
and Means Committee,
who our viewers know
has been talking to us about this.
Congressman, you know,
I spoke with you
the night that the Supreme Court
gave you the green light,
finally clearing the way
for your committee to get Trump's taxes.
Here we are ten days later.
Your committee's got them in hand.
What is the committee doing
with them right now?
Well, Aaron, finally, after
making the motion in February of 2017
almost five years ago,
the Ways and Means
chairman
has excess access to those returns
to some of the returns
that I was seeking at that time.
We had a meeting yesterday.
He explained the process.
He indicated that he did
have access to them,
that he had appointed
some staff individuals
his agents to go through the returns.
And I believe that is occurring
right now
needs to occur very expeditiously
because we know we have only
a few days left
in which Democrats
would be in charge of this.
And we know how much obstruction
two years from congressional Republicans
and then this case sat for two
and a half years with a
Trump appointed judge.
So finally, we have it.
We need to then meet in executive session
to hear what
these individuals
who've been reviewing the returns
find and make a determination
about how much if at all is made public.
All right.
So I want to ask you
about the public part of this.
But first, when you say only a few days.
Obviously, January 3rd, right, is
when the gavel switches over.
So and not many of those days
are in session.
But when we spoke, you had said
you were willing to have this
go around the clock,
work on the weekends, work 40 hours
a day, whatever it took.
Is that happening?
I'm hopeful that it is.
We've been provided
as members of the committee,
very few details
about how this exploration is occurring.
But I think
from talking with Chairman Neal,
while he's very prudent
about following the law
and protecting privacy here,
he knows how urgent this is.
And that come January 3rd,
he will no longer be chair,
unfortunately, of the committee.
And that the work has to be done
before that.
And I think he recognizes
the responsibility to the public
and to our committee
to come up with an answer.
So I feel we'll have whether in-person
or by zoom, a meeting of our committee
in executive private session there.
We will determine
what to do with the outcome.
It is best to look and get the results.
But the more I learn about this case,
the more I'm convinced that
at this late moment,
we really do need to make all
or a substantial portion
of this available to the public.
So then that
that gets me exactly
what I wanted to ask you.
So how does that happen?
Because obviously,
you can do what you can do
if you can't finish it
or come to conclusions. Right.
The best way to get it into
to have it not disappear,
which it which it will. Right.
If Republicans take over the committee
and it stays in committee,
it is to put it in the public eye.
Is that going to happen or. Exactly.
You're exactly right,
because all of the Republicans
who are talking about being on the ways
and Means Committee chairmanship
have already worked
to obstruct our access to this
and have made clear
they want to have nothing to do
with this.
Beginning on January 3rd,
the way it could occur
is in an executive private session,
we decide to report this to the House
and attach
some or all of the returns
or return information to that report.
Thereby, it could become public.
We'll take a vote of our committee,
but you could do that by January 3rd.
Yes, we could.
All right.
Thank you very much, Congressman Doggett.
I appreciate your time tonight.
Thank you very much.