House Ways and Means Committee to release Trump tax returns on Friday

The House Ways and Means Committee will release former President Donald Trump's tax returns on Friday, ending a years-long effort by Democrats to force the 45th president to release his personal finances.

Trump declined to release his tax returns during his 2016 presidential campaign, marking a departure from the norm. He had long argued that his advisers told him not to do so as he was then facing an IRS audit.

News of the Friday release follows reports that the documents would become public by noon on Tuesday, which did not occur, per the Daily Mail.

In late November, the Supreme Court allowed the House Ways and Means Committee to obtain Trump's tax returns, which the lower chamber lawmakers then voted to make public in late December.

Democrats began their pursuit of the documents in 2019, upon taking the majority in the House of Representatives, though Trump managed to stave off their legal efforts throughout his presidency.

The documents are likely to reveal that the president reported considerable losses almost every year since the turn of the century. Donald Bender of Mazars USA, which previously managed the Trump Organization's books, testified before a New York court in November during a criminal trial involving a scheme by the firm's executives to avoid paying income taxes that Trump had reported such losses. The Trump Organization was found guilty in early December.

Trump himself faced no charges in that case. The organization, however, faces a separate civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has alleged the organization inflated the value of its assets.