Outside the Beltway

You have to be suspicious of people who enjoy gangster movies a bit too much.

First whining about losing, now whining about legislation. (And creating chaos along the way).

We may be in a national crisis but it’s still politics as usual in Washington.

Late yesterday, the Supreme Court put a temporary hold on an order that would give Congress access to the President’s financial documents.

President Trump loses another lawsuit against his ongoing efforts to stonewall Congress.

A Federal Judge rejected the President’s effort to block a New York City prosecutor from obtaining copies of his tax returns.

The Trump Administration is warning Congress that we will need to raise the debt ceiling by September. Congress should take this as an opportunity to eliminate it entirely.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed into law a bill that will make it easier for Congress to get President Trump’s tax returns.

As expected, the House Ways & Means Committee is suing Treasury Secretary Mnuchin over his refusal to provide the committee with copies of the President’s tax returns.

The Justice Department has released a memo attempting to justify the Administration’s refusal to comply with a subpoena for the President;’s tax returns. Their argument is weak to say the least.

With the Trump Administration continuing to stonewall investigations, the House of Representatives is seeking to ramp up the pressure.

The White House is continuing to stonewall legitimate Congressional investigations, but Congress is starting to push back.

I continue to be opposed to impeachment of the President, but I’m slowly moving in that direction thanks primary to the Administration’s own actions.

New York has passed a law that would allow Congress to obtain copies of the President’s New York State tax returns.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin punted once again on the question of replacing Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, making clear that any change that does occur won’t happen until after Donald Trump is out of office.

A previously confidential I.R.S. memo contradicts the Administration on the issue of providing copies of the President’s tax returns.

As the Administration continues to stonewall legitimate requests from Congress for documents and witnesses, pressure is growing on Speaker Pelosi to authorize the opening of an impeachment inquiry.

The Trump Administration lost what is likely to be the first of many court challenges to its effort to stop Congress from doing what the Constitution requires it to do.

In the latest example of the White House’s ongoing effort to block Congress from exercising its duty to investigate the Executive Branch, the White House is blocking the former White House Counsel from testifying before Congress.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has informed Congress that he will not comply with a subpoena seeking the President’s tax returns, meaning that we’re headed for a court battle.

An absurd theory for an absurd time.

The House Ways and Means Committee voted to issue a subpoena the President’s tax returns, but whether it will ever see them is unclear.

The New York Times has obtained about ten years worth of Donald Trump’s tax returns from the late eighties to early nineties. They don’t tell us much that we didn’t already know.

California is the latest state to try to force all Presidential candidates, including the President, to release their tax returns as a condition for getting on the ballot. It’s not at all clear that this is permitted under the Constitution.

The Treasury Secretary is declining to comply with a Congressional request for the President’s tax returns. Whether this is proper is a question that will have to be resolved by the courts.

The law is not on the President’s side.

Economic growth slowed significantly in the fourth quarter of 2018 from where it had been earlier in the year. And it’s likely to slow down even more.

President Trump responded to the suggestion that the State of the Union be rescheduled by revoking military transportation for a Congressional trip to visit troops in Afghanistan.

With the economy appearing to sour, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is quickly becoming the President’s latest target of criticism.

More evidence that Trump does not know what he is doing.

Saudi Arabia is reportedly developing an explanation for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi that defies credulity.

The plan to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill appears to be running up against President Trump’s bizarre affinity for Andrew Jackson.

For some reason, the President wants to help a Chinese company that has been accused of being a security risk by American intelligence services.

President Trump undercut his own Ambassador to the United Nations today by blocking the imposition of new sanctions on Russia.

President Trump is continuing his dangerous and misguided trade war rhetoric,

Like many Presidents before him, Donald Trump wants a line-item veto. Getting there won’t be easy, nor should it be.

President Trump continues to make irresponsible and dangerous threats in connection with American policy toward North Korea.

Trump loses his HHS Secretary amid a growing scandal involving the use of private and government jets by Cabinet officials.

Donald Trump made a deal with Democrats on spending and the debt ceiling, but it was an exceedingly bad one.

Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin’s trip to Kentucky that ‘just happened’ to coincide with last month’s eclipse is being investigated by the Treasury Department’s Inspector General.

Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary won’t commit to putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.

Donald Trump’s Secretary of State is refusing to defend his response to the violence in Charlottesville.

President Trump once again revealed his true self at a press conference yesterday.

Inconceivably, Steve Bannon thought that clashing with President Trump’s daughter and son-in-law was a good idea. He’s likely learned his lesson now.

With two votes last night, President Trump’s Cabinet is coming together.