A lawyer for disgraced reality show character Donald Trump says his client intends to fight the recent Department of Justice order to the Treasury Department to turn Trump’s tax returns over to the House Ways and Means Committee, the Wall Street Journal reports.

“There is no evidence of any wrongdoing here and I object to the release of the returns not only on behalf of my client but on behalf of all future holders of the office of the president of the United States,” said Ronald Fischetti, a lawyer for Mr. Trump.  It is unclear if Fischetti believes he’ll be paid for his legal representation.  The move is typical of the Trump modus operandi:  instead of complying with a legal order, he intends to drag out the decision with court challenges.

On Friday, the DOJ announced that it was withdrawing a previous policy, announced while Bill Barr was attorney general, that Treasury did not have to fulfill a request by the Ways and Means Committee for the tax returns of the sitting president.  The Committee has the legal authority to request the tax returns of specific individuals to examine how tax policy impacts the filings of people.  The DOJ ruled that the request fell in line with previous statutory requests and did not violate privacy laws because the releases would not be made public; the request met the standards for a legitimate legislative need, the DOJ stated. 

Trump ignored decades of tradition by refusing to release his tax returns, even after promising that he would.  He has continued to claim that he cannot release them because they are being audited, a claim that the IRS will neither confirm nor deny, but one that seems highly unlikely for all of Trump’s filings.

A judge ordered the Department of Justice and Trump’s attorney to file by Wednesday a timetable for hearing the case.  Even with the DOJ decision, the Committee may not see Trump’s tax returns for months or even years depending on the number of court challenges he files.