Rulings leave Trump tax simmering
While court backs handover of US leader’s files, Congress won’t see them before poll
The US Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that US President Donald Trump must hand over his tax returns to New York prosecutors but temporarily blocked Congress from accessing his financial records before the Nov 3 presidential election in the United States.
The rulings prompted a string of furious tweets from Trump and were a setback to his claim of “absolute” immunity from criminal investigation while in office.
The nation’s top court ruled 7-2 against Trump in a case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, a Democrat who is seeking eight years of the president’s financial records in connection with an alleged “hush money” payment made to actress Stormy Daniels.
Both of the conservative justices appointed by Trump — Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh — joined Chief Justice John Roberts in rejecting the sweeping claim by Trump’s attorneys that the president enjoyed absolute immunity.
“Two hundred years ago, a great jurist of our court established that no citizen, not even the president, is categorically above the common duty to produce evidence when called upon in a criminal proceeding,” Roberts said.
“We reaffirm that principle today.” The other case before the nation’s highest court concerned a request by three Democratic-led congressional committees for Trump’s tax returns and financial records and the president received a temporary reprieve there.
In another 7-2 ruling, the court sent the congressional case back to a lower court for further consideration, saying it needs to further examine the separation of powers questions raised.
Vance called the ruling “a tremendous victory for our nation’s system of justice and its founding principle that no one — not even a president — is above the law”.
Pleased attorney
Jay Sekulow, Trump’s attorney, also welcomed the rulings, seeking to portray them as a win for the president.
“We are pleased that in the decisions issued today, the Supreme Court has temporarily blocked both Congress and New York prosecutors from obtaining the president’s financial records,” Sekulow said.
“We will now proceed to raise additional constitutional and legal issues in the lower courts.”
Even if Trump’s financial records are eventually turned over to the
New York prosecutors by his accounting firm Mazars, they may remain hidden from public view because of grand jury secrecy.
Trump reacted furiously to the rulings.
“This is all a political prosecution,” he tweeted. “Now I have to keep fighting in a politically corrupt New York. Not fair to this presidency or administration!”
Nancy Pelosi, Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, said she would continue to press for Trump’s financial records to be handed over to Congress.
The Democratic-led committees are looking into the president’s finances and those of the Trump Organization and his family in what started as a probe into foreign influence in 2016.
Trump’s secrecy over his tax returns and personal finances has prompted speculation about the New York real-estate magnate’s true worth and possible financial entanglements.
Trump promised to release his tax returns during his 2016 campaign for the White House but has declined to do so.
US presidents are not required by law to release details of their personal finances but every US leader since Richard Nixon has done so.
The politically sensitive cases were being closely watched because of their potentially far-reaching implications on the limits of presidential power and congressional authority.
In both the New York and congressional cases, subpoenas were issued to Mazars, Trump’s longtime accounting firm, as well as to Deutsche Bank and Capital One bank demanding his financial records for 2010-18.
Daniel Hunter, a Deutsche Bank spokesman, said his bank “will of course abide by a final decision by the courts”.