Liberal group presses Democratic chairman to file lawsuit for Trump’s tax returns quickly

The liberal group Stand Up America announced on Wednesday that it’s launching a new campaign to pressure House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) to immediately file a lawsuit over the Treasury Department’s failure to comply with his requests for President Trump’s tax returns.

Stand Up America said that its campaign will involve volunteers sending text messages to people in Neal’s district, urging them to contact the congressman’s office to demand that he promptly file the lawsuit.

{mosads}Stand Up America’s new effort comes one month after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin rejected Neal’s subpoena for six years of Trump’s tax returns. Earlier this month, the House passed a resolution that gives committee chairmen more legal authority to enforce subpoenas.

In 2016, Trump became the first major party presidential nominee in decades to decline to release his returns, which Democrats say must be examined for instances of corruption or conflict of interest.

Neal has taken a careful approach to seeking Trump’s tax returns, and he has said that he plans to file a lawsuit in the near future. But some progressives have been frustrated with the pace that Neal has taken on the tax-return issue and want him to move more quickly.

“The House of Representatives handed Chairman Neal the power to take Secretary Mnuchin to court to get Trump’s tax returns — and he should use it,” Stand Up America spokesman Ryan Thomas said. “Every day that Neal delays this process further, the Trump administration is able to make a mockery of Congress and deprive the American people of the transparency they deserve.”