Nichols also ruled that Trump did not sufficiently establish a conspiracy between the

House Ways and Means Committee and the New York defendants, which would have
strengthened his case for the lawsuit to be heard in Washington. Trump had argued that
New York officials were "co-conspirators" with Democrats in Washington, and thus the
Washington court had jurisdiction.

"But nowhere in his Amended Complaint does Mr. Trump allege the existence of a
conspiracy; in fact, the word 'conspiracy' does not even appear in his pleadings," Nichols
wrote.

Soon after, Trump's personal attorney Jay Sekulow said the president's lawyers "are
reviewing the opinion."

"The case against the Ways and Means Committee proceeds in federal court," he added
in a statement.

James said in a statement that her office is "pleased with the court's conclusion."

"We have never doubted that this law was legal, which is why we vigorously defended it
from the start and will continue to do so," she said.

In his lawsuit, Trump's attorneys argued that the state law was simply an effort to get
information about his personal finances to embarrass him politically. It asked the court
to provide a declaratory judgment that the House Ways and Means Committee "lacks a
legitimate legislative purpose for obtaining the President's state tax information."

The New York law, called the TRUST Act, was signed into law in July and allows the
chairmen of three congressional tax-related committees — the House Ways and Means
Committee, Senate Finance Committee and Joint Committee on Taxation — to request
the state returns of public officials only after efforts to gain access to federal tax filings
through the Treasury Department have failed. Neal is the only Democrat who can use
the law, which was written broadly and makes it easier for New York to turn over the
state tax returns of certain public officials to Congress.

"The dismissal of the President’s frivolous lawsuit against the New York TRUST Act
moves us closer to finding what it is he has fought so hard to hide from the public,"
Democratic New York Assemblyman David Buchwald, who sponsored the legislation,
said in a statement.

The legislation states that any "legitimate task" of Congress is a valid reason to make the
request, should efforts to obtain the returns at the federal level be stonewalled by the
Treasury Department. New York state tax filings are not identical to the federal returns,
but contain much of the same information.

Neal's committee is tied up in separate legislation over Trump's tax returns with the
Treasury Department, which has refused to provide Trump's federal returns to the
panel. Neal sued the IRS and the Treasury Department over the returns citing a section
of tax law that states the Treasury secretary "shall furnish" to congressional tax
committees "any return or return information" request by its chairman.

The stated purpose of Neal's request is to review the IRS process for auditing
presidential returns.

When asked about the New York law in June, Neal said utilizing it could harm his
case involving Trump's federal returns. In July, Neal said House counsel was
"reviewing" the New York law and had "some legitimate concerns" regarding it.

Trump is engaged in several legal battles across the country to keep his tax returns
private. Last week, a federal appeals court ruled in a separate case that his returns must
be turned over to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who had subpoenaed the
documents from Trump's accounting firm as part of an investigation into the pre-
election payoffs to two women who alleged affairs with Trump. Trump is appealing that
decision to the Supreme Court.

Trump broke with four decades of tradition when he refused to release his returns
during his presidential bid, citing an IRS audit — one he now undergoes annually as
president. However, such an audit would not preclude him from releasing the returns,
which he did pledge to make public during his 2016 run.