Democratic Rep. Ron Kind, also a Ways & Means member, recently remarked that Mueller and his prosecutors have surely seen the returns and that it would be best for the House to proceed carefully. “I’d suspect that Bob Mueller and his team are looking at that already, and hopefully it’s part of a report that is submitted to us shortly,” Kind said.

That is precisely what worries some Democrats. What if Mueller investigates and does not accuse Trump of any wrongdoing based on the tax returns? Just in case, Democrats propose to perform their own “MRI” of Trump’s finances, based in large part on the tax returns.

“Our priority is to make sure the President of the United States is working in the national interest, that he is not motivated by some pecuniary interest or fear of compromise or actual compromise,” Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff said recently. “That’s the length and breadth of it. So in terms of the president’s business, we’re not interested in our committee in whether he’s a tax cheat, or he’s not worth what he says he is, or those issues. What we’re interested in is: Does the president have business dealings with Russia such that it compromises the United States?”