It’s all Bam, politics & no fair, waaah!
our nation’s system of justice and its founding principle that no one — not even a president — is above the law,” the Manhattan prosecutor said. “Our investigation, which was delayed for almost a year by this lawsuit, will resume, guided as always by the grand jury’s solemn obligation to follow the law and the facts, wherever they may lead.”
Vance’s office is investigating whether Trump’s namesake company falsified corporate records as part of the pre-2016 election scheme to issue hush payments to a porn star and a Playboy model who had threatened to go public with allegations of extramarital trysts with the soon-to-be president.
However, former prosecutors said Vance could likely expand the scope of that inquiry in light of the Supreme Court decision.
“What he’s investigating at the moment pertains to the Trump Organization, but he could absolutely look at those documents and proceed against Donald Trump over a variety of charges,” said Michael Graetz, a longtime forensic tax expert and professor at Yale Law School.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed Vance is pursuing Trump for political reasons and denigrated him as “the partisan attorney in Manhattan.”
“The Democrat from New York is aiding and abetting lawless Democrats like Nancy Pelosi,” McEnany told reporters.
Trump’s tax returns have been one of the most enduring mysteries of his presidency.
His former personal attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, testified before Congress in 2019 that the returns would show Trump engaged in a variety of frauds to avoid paying taxes and more easily obtain bank loans over the course of his career as a high-rolling real estate developer.
Leaked portions of decades-old returns from Trump’s family business have backed up Cohen’s allegations.
Meanwhile, Democrats have also suggested they want to review the returns to track down the true nature and source of Trump’s vaunted wealth, and whether it’s tied to Russia or other foreign adversaries.
The legal battle over Trump’s returns began in April 2019, when, sick of the president’s stonewalling, the House Intelligence, Financial Services and Oversight Committees went through a backdoor and tried to subpoena his banks and accountants.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said he was disappointed by Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling because it put a “delay” on the Democratic hunt for Trump’s tax returns.
“Given the risk of foreign influence over this president, such delay is dangerous,” Schiff said. “But we remain confident that we will ultimately prevail. And in light of the president’s tweets this morning, he appears to believe the same.”
President Trump fired in all directions Thursday after the Supreme Court ruled to release his tax returns, claiming he’s a victim of “political prosecution” and accusing Democrats, New York prosecutors and former FBI officials of “spying” on him.
The president made the unsubstantiated charges in a fusillade of frantic tweets after the high court gave the green light for Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, Jr., to subpoena eight years’ worth of the president’s personal and corporate tax returns as part of a criminal investigation.
“This is all a political prosecution. I won the Mueller Witch Hunt, and others, and now I have to keep fighting in a politically corrupt New York. Not fair to this Presidency or Administration!” Trump tweeted.
Listing off a usual cadre of his perceived enemies, Trump went on, “We have a totally corrupt previous Administration, including a President and Vice President who spied on my campaign, AND GOT CAIGHT (sic) and nothing happens to them … Major horror show REPORTS on Comey & McCabe, guilty as hell, nothing happens. Catch Obama & Biden cold, nothing.”
Trump’s return to his old unsubstantiated allegations contrasted reactions from Democrats, who were relieved that the Supreme Court affirmed that Vance can get his hands on the president’s long-sought financial records.
“No one is above the law,” tweeted House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.).
Mayor de Blasio offered a similar sentiment.
“Donald Trump’s the only public servant in America who thinks he can get away with withholding his financial disclosure. It’s outrageous,” the mayor said at a press briefing from City Hall. “It’s been perverse and I applaud the Supreme Court.”
The Supreme Court gave Trump a partial victory in ruling in a separate case that three Democrat-led House committees cannot, at least for now, subpoena a similar set of tax returns and financial records from the president.
But Trump appeared too upset to appreciate the second ruling.
“The Supreme Court sends case back to Lower Court, arguments to continue,” he wrote as part of his Twitterspree. “Courts in the past have given ‘broad deference.’ BUT NOT ME!”