Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney of U.S. President Donald Trump, resumes testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., February 27, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
February 27, 2019
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen said on Wednesday that Trump did not want to release his tax returns because he feared public scrutiny would lead to an audit and penalties.
“What he didn’t want is to have an entire group of think tanks that are tax experts run through his tax return and start ripping it to pieces, and then he’ll end up in an audit and he’ll ultimately have taxable consequences, penalties and so on,” Cohen told the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee.
(Reporting by Ginger Gibson and Doina Chiacu; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
