White House press secretary Jen Psaki took a jab at former President Trump on Thursday, saying it’s unknown if President Biden‘s finances are different than Trump’s because the former president’s tax returns have not been released.
Psaki made the comments during a press briefing after reporter asked if Biden intended to donate a portion of his salary back to the government as Trump had when he was president.
The reporter qualified her question by noting there were “very different financial situations” between Trump and Biden.
“We don’t know, we haven’t seen his tax returns. We’re not sure,” Psaki responded, before saying she’d have to talk to Biden about whether he would be donating a portion of his salary.
Throughout his presidency, Trump resisted calls to release his tax returns, claiming a pending audit by the IRS prevented him from doing so. The IRS stated that an audit did not prevent the president from releasing his tax returns.
By refusing to release his returns, Trump broke with a precedent followed by other presidents, and invited more scrutiny on his finances.
In February, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office obtained Trump’s tax returns after the Supreme Court rebuffed efforts by Trump’s attorneys to block the records. The district attorney’s office obtained the documents as part of its investigation into potential financial crimes by the Trump Organization.
The House Oversight and Reform Committee reissued a subpoena for Trump’s tax returns this week as well. The committee has requested 8 years worth of documents relating to Trump and his businesses.
The New York Times reported that Trump only paid $750 in income taxes in 2016 in a lengthy story on his finances after it obtained some of his records.
Via The Hill