New York City
Not above the law: A federal judge called President Trump’s claim to immunity from criminal investigations “repugnant to the nation’s governmental structure and constitutional values,” demanding that Trump’s accounting firm turn over his tax returns to state prosecutors this week. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a last-minute reprieve, however, preventing prosecutors from obtaining eight years of Trump’s personal and business tax records until it hears Trump’s appeal. The Manhattan district attorney obtained a grand jury subpoena for the records in late August as part of an investigation into the Trump Organization’s payments of hush money to two women who said they had affairs with Trump. District Court Judge Victor Marrero denied Trump’s lawsuit seeking to block the subpoena, citing the Founding Fathers’ rejection of the “inviolability” of the King of England as evidence that Trump’s claim to “unqualified and boundless” presidential immunity is unconstitutional.