Evening summary
There’s been plenty of US political news today, as House Democrats in Washington rush to finish their goals before the Republicans take majority control in the new year. We’re wrapping up our live coverage for today, but there will be more coverage tomorrow. Some key events:
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to visit Washington DC on Wednesday to meet with political leaders in both parties and address a joint session of Congress. The visit, which would be Zelenskiy’s first known trip outside the country since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, comes as US lawmakers are expected to vote on a spending package that includes $45bn in emergency assistance to Ukraine and the US prepares to send Patriot surface-to-air missiles.
The House ways and means committee voted to publicly release information about Donald Trump’s tax returns, after a years-long battle and Trump’s refusal to voluntarily release his returns, as other candidates for president have done for decades. While some of the tax information must be redacted before it’s released, two reports on Trump’s taxes are expected to be made public later tonight.
Tensions remained high at the US-Mexico border amid uncertainty over the future of Trump-era restrictions on asylum-seekers, with the Biden administration asking the supreme court to lift Title 42 restrictions, but not to lift the limits before Christmas.
Republican politicians have had a fairly muted response to yesterday’s historic recommendation by the House January 6 committee that Trump face criminal charges for his actions in the last days of his presidency.
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How soon will information about Trump’s tax returns be released?
Some of the Trump tax documentation that the House ways and means committee has voted to release will need to be redacted, with sensitive information like social security numbers removed. That could take days, reporters in Washington have said.
But CNN and CBS are reporting that two “reports on the returns” will be released later tonight, according to Richard Neal, the committee chair.
Just asked Richard Neal how soon Donald Trump’s tax returns will be public. He said it would take a few days for certain info to be redacted. But there will be A LOT released in a matter of days. But reports on the returns will be out tonight
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 21, 2022
House Ways and Means chairman Richard Neal tells reporters tonight it will take a “few days” to release the Trump tax returns to the public, saying the committee must first make redactions.
— Ellis Kim (@elliskkim) December 21, 2022
The public will get to see two *reports* related to the returns tonight. pic.twitter.com/6CGUw3P4Oq
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