FBI Director Testifies That Tax Returns 'Show Motive'

Nearly daily there is a new revelation about the Trump Family's – Donald, Jared and Ivanka – disturbing conflicts of interests, shady dealings with Russians, quid-pro-quo with foreign adversaries, and refusal to disclose their financial dealings that raise legitimate questions about whether the Trumps are violating the law.

Below is shocking testimony from FBI Director James Comey that bolsters House Democrats' demand for an immediate floor vote to obtain President Trump's tax returns, and the need for the Trump Administration to come clean and respond to Democratic inquiries about the president's financial connections to Russia and any other foreign entity.

Highlights of Director Comey's Testimony:

Senator Whitehouse: When are tax returns useful in investigating a criminal offense?

Comey: They show motive, income. Something on a tax return that indicates it is criminal activity.

Senator Whitehouse: It is not uncommon to seek and use tax returns in the criminal investigation?

Comey: Not uncommon. It's a very difficult process, as it should be, but especially in complex financial cases. It's a relatively common tool.

Senator Whitehouse:  The hearing that Senator Graham and I held with respect to Russia's infiltration and influence in the last election, raised the issue of Russia intervening with business leaders in a country engaging them in bribery or other highly favorable business deals with a view to either recruiting them as somebody who has been bribed or being able to threaten them by disclosing the illicit relationship, they are happy to blow up their own cut-out but blows up the individual. Have you seen any indication that those are Russian strategies in their election influence tool box?

…

Comey: In my understanding, those are tools the Russians have used over many decades.

Senator Whitehouse: And lastly, the European Union is moving towards requiring transparency of incorporations so that shell corporations are harder to create. That risks leaving the United States as the last big haven for shell corporations. Is it true that shell corporations are often used as a device for criminal money.

Comey:  Yes.

Senator Whitehouse:  Is it true that shell corporations are often used as a device for the concealment of criminally garnered funds?

Comey: Yes.

Senator Whitehouse: And to avoid legitimate taxation?

Comey: Yes.

Senator Whitehouse: What do you think the hazards are for the United States with respect to election interference of continuing to maintain a system in which shell corporations that you never know who is really behind them are common place?

Comey: It makes it easier for illicit money to make its way into a political environment.

Senator Whitehouse: And that is not a good thing?

Comey: I don't think it is.

Senator Whitehouse: Yeah, me neither. Okay. Thank you very much.

Week after week, House Republicans have been complicit in keeping Trump's taxes and finances hidden – repeatedly voting in Committee and on the House floor to aid and abet President Trump's stonewalling of the American people. It begs the question: What is President Trump hiding that he refuses to release his taxes to the American people – even as an overwhelming 74 percent of Americans demand he release them?

The American people deserve to know the extent of their President's financial dealings, how they might be steering his decision-making and whether their President and his family are using the office for their personal gain.