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White House spokesman Hogan Gidley suggested Tuesday that the administration would defy House Democrats’ deadline of later in the day to turn over President Trump’s tax returns.

“It’s already been litigated in the court of public opinion and in the election,” Gidley said in an interview on Fox News when asked if the administration would meet the 5 p.m. deadline. “Once he’s out of audit he’ll think about doing it, but he is not inclined to do so at this time.”

The deadline is the second set by House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., for the IRS to cooperate with his inquiry into Trump’s tax returns.

[ Read more: Pence hasn’t released tax returns since taking office]

Part of the stated motivation for Neal’s inquiry is to determine whether the IRS has audited Trump and his businesses, as Trump claims. An IRS rule put in place after a major tax underpayment by former President Richard Nixon mandates that every sitting president be automatically placed under audit.

A law put in place in reaction to a major Cabinet corruption scandal in the 1920s, the Teapot Dome Scandal, grants the heads of the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee the ability to request taxpayer information from the IRS, which is a part of the Treasury Department. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin missed the first deadline set by Neal, April 10, saying that he wanted the IRS to hold off from complying with the request until it consulted with the Justice Department. Trump’s personal legal team made a similar request of the IRS.

In a follow-up letter sent on April 13, Neal told the Treasury secretary that he would view a failure to deliver Trump’s tax information by 5 p.m. Tuesday as a refusal, meaning that Neal would consider Mnuchin in violation of the law. That could set up a lengthy court battle.

Trump could voluntarily release his returns despite being under audit. Public polling has shown a majority of Americans think Trump’s tax returns should be released, though the number who believe it should be a priority is mixed. In a Politico/Morning Consult poll conducted in late March, half of respondents said that forcing Trump to release his tax returns should be a priority for Congress, while only 23 percent of those polled opposed it.

A spokesperson for the Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Though Mnuchin is considered one of Trump’s closest advisers, it’s not clear whether Gidley spoke for the department in his statement or only for Trump.

“He’s the president and no one cares about ridiculous charges about tax returns and all types of things Democrats are doubling down on today,” argued Gidley.