Democracy Forward filed suit against the Department of the Treasury to force the Trump Administration to reveal details of closed-door “listening sessions” Administration officials held with unknown parties while developing its tax proposal. Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer announced in July 2018 that the Trump Administration had conducted “hundreds, if not close to a thousand listening sessions” with outside interests to help develop President Trump’s tax policy.

Democracy Forward filed suit after Treasury made clear it would not provide any information about the meetings during the time when the Administration’s proposal was being debated. In response to our lawsuit, Treasury has produced some responsive records. We’re pressing forward in order to require Treasury to comply with all of its obligations under federal transparency laws, and to better understand how the Administration’s secretive “listening sessions” informed a policy that overwhelmingly benefits the top 1% of taxpayers.