WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 The Treasury Department said Wednesday it has complied with a court order to make former President Donald Trump's tax returns available to a congressional committee.
The Supreme Court last week for an order that would have prevented the Treasury Department from giving six years of tax returns for Trump and some of his businesses to the Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee.
The court, without dissent, cleared the legal obstacle to disclosure of Trump's tax returns.
A department spokesperson said 鈥淭reasury has complied with last week鈥檚 court decision鈥 but declined to say whether the committee had accessed the documents. The spokesperson declined to be identified by name because of privacy constraints.
Trump refused to release his tax returns during his 2016 presidential campaign or his four years in the White House.
After the Supreme Court action, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said in a statement that 鈥渟ince the Magna Carta, the principle of oversight has been upheld, and today is no different. This rises above politics, and the Committee will now conduct the oversight that we鈥檝e sought for the last three and a half years.鈥
Trump鈥檚 campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the dispute over his tax returns, the Treasury Department had refused to provide the records during Trump鈥檚 presidency. But the Biden administration said federal law is clear that the committee has the right to examine any taxpayer鈥檚 return, including the president鈥檚.
Lower courts agreed that the committee has broad authority to obtain tax returns and rejected Trump鈥檚 claims that it was overstepping and only wanted the documents so they could be made public.
Chief Justice John Roberts imposed a temporary freeze on Nov. 1 to allow the court to weigh the legal issues raised by Trump鈥檚 lawyers and the counter-arguments of the administration and the House of Representatives.
Just over three weeks later, the court lifted Roberts鈥 order without comment.
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Associated Press reporters Mark Sherman and Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.
