President Donald Trump may have just lost an important battle in his fight to keep his tax documents under wraps.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law on Monday that will allow Democratic lawmakers in Washington access to the president's highly sought after state tax returns.
The law — titled the TRUST Act — requires New York's commissioner of taxation to cooperate with investigations into elected officials by Congressional tax writing committees, which include the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and the Joint Committee on Taxation.
"Tax secrecy is paramount — the exception being for bonafide investigative and law enforcement purposes," Cuomo said in a statement. "This bill gives Congress the ability to fulfill its Constitutional responsibilities, strengthen our democratic system and ensure that no one is above the law."
Under the law, New York will only be able to fulfill requests from Congress for Trump's state filings, which would, nonetheless, provide federal lawmakers and the public with significant insight into the New York real estate developer's financial holdings.
The bill was passed by the New York State Senate and Assembly in May.
"This is a momentous step in upholding the principle that top elected officials have a responsibility to be more transparent and accountable," State Assemblyman David Buchwald, who co-sponsored the legislation, said on Twitter. "It's a great day for transparency in government."
Breaking with a long standing norm, Trump first refused to release his taxes during the 2016 election, claiming he was under audit and then alleging that his taxes were not of concern to the American people. The White House has since bucked several attempts from congressional Democrats and activist organizations to obtain the president's taxes and examine possible foreign entanglements and fraud.
"For far too long, the Trump administration has attempted to hide Donald Trump's deeply concerning conflicts of interest by illegally blocking the release of his tax returns," Ryan Thomas, the spokesperson for the progressive advocacy group Stand Up America, said. "But now, New York has provided Congress a new route for getting answers on behalf of the American people—and all they have to do is ask."
Thomas urged Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), who chairs the Ways and Means Committee, to immediately request the New York tax returns, adding that any "delay is an injustice to the American people who deserve transparency about Trump's foreign entanglements and massive conflicts of interest."
Meanwhile the New York Republican party claimed that the TRUST Act is a "brazen overreach" and is "a violation of the privacy rights" for all Americans, which would set a concerning precedent. "Assembly Democrats can warm to this illegal bill of attainder all they want but it will be met with a lawsuit," the Republican state committee added in a tweet in May.
The bill had been amended multiple times since its introduction to broaden its scope over elected official and policial party leaders, as well as to limit its application to average citizens.
The six-week delay from when the bill passed the state legislature to Monday’s signing was due to an extensive review of the legislation conducted by the governor’s office, Dani Lever, Cuomo’s communications director, said in a statement to Cheddar.
"Any responsible government would thoroughly review this bill … especially after this process and given how high the stakes are of this particular legislation," Lever said.
With the Russian invasion of Ukraine raging on, millions have turned to TikTok to stay up-to-date on the latest developments and get a first-hand look. The social media platform has been so prominent that the war has been dubbed "the first TikTok war" by many publications — and even the White House has taken notice. The Biden administration held a virtual briefing with 30 social media creators to discuss their role in communicating to their followers by countering what it deems as being misinformation. Ellie Zeiler, an 18-year-old TikTok star who attended the briefing, joined Cheddar to talk about the conference and her responsibilities as a social media creator. "How could you not be a little nervous or scared when you're getting your information and media all from this app? But also then you think back to, I guess, when media was changing between newspapers and TV, and I'm sure people were nervous about that too," she said. "So the fact is, is that people do really look to Tiktok and social media for their news."
U.S. markets closed the day at session lows as the Dow marked its fifth straight week of losses. Investors continue to weigh inflation and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and growing economic risk factors. George Seay, CEO of Annandale Capital, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
U.S. stocks ended Thursday's session lower as new CPI data show inflation continues to rise and the Russia-Ukraine war continues. Philip Palumbo, founder, CEO, & Chief Investment Officer of Palumbo Wealth Management, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
It's been an eventful past few weeks for the WNBA. One of the league's top players, Brittney Griner, remains in Russian custody after being detained at an airport last month. The league is also dealing with a scandal after fining a team for providing charter flights to their players. Emily Caron, sports business reporter for Sportico, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
School nutrition experts warn that millions of children could go hungry as soon as this summer, after Congress excluded waivers that would extend universal lunch for children in school from the $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill. Cheddar News speaks with Jessica Gould, chair of the public policy and legislation committee at the School Nutrition Association, about the issue.
The ongoing semiconductor chip shortage has been impacting everything from the purchase of cars to smartphones. Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves spoke with Cheddar about the Biden administration's efforts to combat the issue and if the current crisis in Ukraine will have any impact on the global supply chain problems for semiconductors. "We're working very closely with all of our partners and allies around the globe, just as we have on the export controls and sanctions that we've applied to Russia to deal with that needless aggression," he said. "We're also working with them on the challenges of raw materials for a range of industries, including the semiconductor industry. We believe that we are going to be able to meet the demand for the for the near term."
Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves spoke to Cheddar's Alex Vuocolo about the ongoing semiconductor shortages and the push from the Biden administration to cover the supply chain problem as well as look ahead to future-proofing it.
President Maxx Fenning and Vice President CJ Walden of PRISM, a Florida non-profit providing resources for LGBTQ youth, joined Cheddar News to discuss the negative repercussions of a Florida bill banning discussions of sexuality and gender identity in some classrooms.
