US House Ways And Means Committee Votes to Publicly Release Trump's Redacted Tax Records

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The House Ways and Means Committee approved a motion to release redacted versions of former President Donald Trump's tax records to the public.

The committee voted 24-16 Tuesday night in favor of releasing Trump's tax records, which encompass years 2015 to 2020.

Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) commented afterwards that the release would take a "few days" so that officials could first remove sensitive information from the former president's taxes, as well as those from eight affiliated Trump businesses.

"But we believe that it's only days," Neal underscored.

Also released late Tuesday was a 29-page report on the Trump taxes that detailed the failures of the presidential audit program and a supplemental 39-page report from the Joint Committee on Taxation that provided additional details on the tax dump.

Lawmakers have remained tight-lipped on the substance of the files as such files are protected and the US Internal Revenue Service has yet to complete their audit; however, some officials have commented that the former president claimed millions without proper documentation.

While some officials have hailed the looming release, not all have jumped aboard. Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), who serves as a ranking member on the committee, warned that the release would set a precedent and be used as a "political weapon."

“Going forward, the majority chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee will have nearly unlimited power to target and make public the tax returns of private citizens,” Brady said at a news conference.

“And not just private citizens,” he stressed. “Political enemies, business and labor leaders or even the returns of Supreme Court justices themselves. No party in Congress should have that power. No individuals in Congress could have that power. It’s the power to embarrass, to harass or destroy Americans through disclosure of their tax returns.”

The Trump camp has blasted the development as an "injustice" and warned that if it could happen to the former commander-in-chief, it could happen to any American "without cause."

The latest comes after the US Supreme Court last month rejected Trump's effort to block the US House Ways and Means Committee from obtaining his tax records for the last six years.