Quote

All presidential nominees since the 1970s have released their tax returns, but Trump says he cannot unveil his because they are being audited by the IRS.

Plenty of pundits have called the excuse phony, so Democrats decided to nail it down with Koskinen.

Although the commissioner refused repeatedly to get into specific talks about Trump, Democrats got him to make the general point.

“Is there anything that would prohibit someone from releasing tax returns, if they want to, because they’re under audit?” Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) asked.

“No,” Koskinen answered.

The answer was the same when Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) wanted to know if there was anything that would stop someone from proving that they are in fact being audited by releasing the audit letter they got from the IRS.

“Would releasing the person’s tax return during the audit in any way impact that pending audit of the return?” Deutch asked.

“The release itself wouldn’t. The concern sometimes by taxpayers is that when the information is public there may be more information that will be discovered or provided,” Koskinen said.

“That is the concern,” Deutch agreed, sounding somewhat pleased with the admission. “We understand that is the concern.” [/quote}