Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made the official announcement: The government will not hand over President Donald Trump’s tax returns to the House of Representatives, where the Democrats are the majority.

Through a letter sent on Monday, Mnuchin told the chairman of the House Resources and Exchanges Committee, Richard Neal, that the panel’s request “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose.”

Mnuchin said he made his decision based on the advice of the Department of Justice. He concluded that the agency “is not authorized to reveal the statements and information requested.”

The measure, thus foreseen, will surely give rise to a legal battle over Trump’s tax declarations. The main options available to Democrats are to issue a subpoena to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to deliver the statements or file a lawsuit.

Neal originally demanded access to Trump’s tax returns in early April under a law stating that the IRS “must provide” the documents of any taxpayer to a handful of high-level legislators, including the president of the Resources and Excise Commission.

The White House and the president’s lawyers refused to comment on the deadline to deliver Trump’s statements.

In private, the president has made it clear that he does not intend to deliver such files.

The president has told his relatives that the attempt to obtain his tax declarations is an invasion of his privacy and a new example of what he describes as a “witch hunt” led by the Democrats in order to harm him.