Supreme Court Deals Blow to Trump
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an effort by former President Donald Trump to shield his income tax records from N.Y. prosecutors.
The court’s action is the apparent culmination of a lengthy legal battle that had already reached the high court once before.
This time, however, the justices waited months to act in the case. The written briefs in the dispute were filed in mid-October, but the court remained silent on the matter through the election and Trump’s multiple challenges to his defeat.
Trump’s tax records are not supposed to become public as part of prosecutors’ investigation, but the justice’s decision not to intervene is a blow to Trump because he has for so long fought on so many fronts to keep his tax records shielded from view.
The request for a stay in the case was presented to Justice Stephen Breyer, and, as is the custom of the court, no explanation was given for its decision.
The decision is a victory for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., who has been seeking Trump’s tax records since 2019 as part of an investigation.
Vance, a Democrat, had subpoenaed the records from the Mazars accounting firm that has long done work for Trump and his businesses. Mazars has said it would comply with the subpoena, but Trump, a Republican, sued to block the records’ release.
Vance’s office had said it would be free to enforce the subpoena and obtain the records in the event the Supreme Court declined to step in and halt the records’ turnover, but it was unclear when that might happen.
In a three-word statement, Vance on Monday said: “The work continues.”
Trump, on the other hand, was apoplectic.
In a lengthy email sent to reporters Monday afternoon, the former president said Vance’s investigation “is a continuation of the greatest political Witch Hunt in the history of our Country.”
Showing he has still got Twitter in his blood, despite being banned by the social media platform, Trump freely bounced from name-calling to all caps as his statements continued.
Describing other aspects of the alleged witch hunt Trump referred to the “the never ending $32 million Mueller hoax, which already investigated everything that could possibly be investigated, ‘Russia Russia Russia,’” to “two ridiculous ‘Crazy Nancy’ inspired impeachment attempts where I was found NOT GUILTY. It just never ends!”
He continued: “For more than two years, New York City has been looking at almost every transaction I’ve ever done, including seeking tax returns which were done by among the biggest and most prestigious law and accounting firms in the U.S.
“The Tea Party was treated far better by the IRS than Donald Trump,” he continued. “The Supreme Court never should have let this fishing expedition happen, but they did.”
Trump went on to angrily declare that his treatment by Vance and presumably the Supreme Court is something “which has never happened to a president before.”
He also laid the blame for it at the feet of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, “a heavily reported enemy of mine,” and said the ongoing investigation is further proof Democrats are “willing to do anything to stop the almost 75 million people … an election which many people, and experts, feel that I won.”
“The new phenomenon of “headhunting” prosecutors and AGs—who try to take down their political opponents using the law as a weapon—is a threat to the very foundation of our liberty. That’s what is done in third world countries,” Trump continued. “I will fight on.”
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