Donald Trump's Tax Returns Could Be Released Today

The long-awaited release of Donald Trump's tax returns could finally occur on Tuesday, according to multiple reports.

The Democrat-led House Ways and Means Committee voted to release six years of the former president's personal tax returns, as well as returns for eight of his businesses, on December 20 after Trump sought for years to keep his financial documents hidden.

While the committee did not indicate when they would make Trump's tax returns public, they must do so before January 3, when Republicans gain control of the House majority.

The panel previously confirmed that the tax returns, which will be required to remove personal information and details such as social security numbers, would be released on December 27 at the earliest, reported Bloomberg.

Political reporter Pablo Manríquez tweeted on Monday that the Ways and Means Committee will publish Trump's redacted tax returns at midday ET on December 27.

Members of the committee have already revealed some information stemming from Trump's tax returns.

Last week, Democratic Representative Don Beyer tweeted that the Internal Revenue Service failed to audit Trump during his first two years as president.

"On April 3, 2019, @WaysMeansCmte Chairman Richard Neal wrote the IRS to request Trump's tax returns as part of our Committee's oversight of the IRS' mandatory audit of presidential tax returns," Beyer wrote. "On the same day the IRS initiated its first audit of Donald Trump's tax returns."

While under no legal obligation to do so, Trump became the first president in decades not to release his tax returns when he launched his run for the White House. Trump claimed he could not release the returns because he was under audit by the IRS.

Attorney Norm Eisen, senior fellow in governance studies at the research group Brookings Institution, previously told Newsweek that even if accurate, Trump's defense about not releasing his tax returns was not warranted.

"There is no legal or other reason to hold back a tax return because of an audit. It is apples and oranges—a made-up justification. And now we know that even on its own terms, it did not make sense," Eisen said.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden accused the IRS of being "asleep at the wheel" for not auditing Trump until 2019 and suggested the presidential audit program is "broken."

"There is no justification for the failure to conduct the required presidential audits until a congressional inquiry was made," the Democrat from Oregon said.

After the committee voted to release the former president's tax returns, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement to Newsweek that the "unprecedented leak by lameduck Democrats is proof they are playing a political game they are losing."

Newsweek reached out to the House Ways and Means Committee for comment.