U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09), the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, tonight praised a holding of a federal district judge dismissing Donald Trump’s latest attempt to delay Congress from obtaining under law his business and personal tax returns, opening the door for the legislature to finally get Trump’s financial records.

“Today’s decision affirms yet again what we in Congress have been saying for five years: no one is above the law,” said Chairman Pascrell, who has led congressional efforts to obtain the Trump tax returns since February 2017. “In a democracy everybody must be held accountable for their actions. It has been nearly 1,000 days – a period longer than the Siege of Leningrad – since our Ways and Means Committee made a legal request for the Trump tax returns. We have waited patiently to find the truth. The executive branch supports our request. Now the judicial branch has denied Trump’s lawsuit and ruled as well. It’s time to finally end this charade and allow the administration to comply with Congress’s lawful request.”

Rep. Pascrell has been the most vocal proponent of the Congress reviewing Donald Trump’s tax returns. Since February 2017, Pascrell has led the call for the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means to invoke Section 6103 of the tax code to obtain Trump’s tax returns. In the 115th Congress, Republicans voted 18 times to block Democratic resolutions seeking the tax returns. Last March, Pascrell had a fiery exchange with disgraced former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for his illegal refusal to provide Trump’s tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee.