Trump Loses Again on Tax Returns
The Manhattan district attorney can enforce a subpoena seeking President Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns, a federal appeals panel ruled on Wednesday, dealing yet another blow to the president’s yearlong battle to keep his financial records out of the hands of state prosecutors.
The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel in New York rejected the president’s arguments that the subpoena should be blocked because it was too broad and amounted to political harassment from the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., a Democrat.
“Grand juries must necessarily paint with a broad brush,” the judges wrote.
They concluded that the president did not show that Mr. Vance had been driven by politics. “None of the president’s allegations, taken together or separately, are sufficient to raise a plausible inference that the subpoena was issued ‘out of malice or an intent to harass,’” they wrote.
Trump will now appeal to the Supreme Court, which ought not to take the case, but who knows what they will actually do.
I’d feel better if SDNY prosecutors were pursuing the tax charges rather than the Manhattan D.A. They are more thorough and experienced and, I believe, less partisan. But of course the feds can’t prosecute the President, and Bill Barr probably would not allow any investigation to begin with. The extent to which the President and his cronies can stifle an investigation through his control over DoJ, and by dangling pardons in front of cooperators, is a major theme of the book I am reading: Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation (affiliate link), by Andrew Weissman. I’m about 2/3 of the way through it, maybe 3/4, and I think it’s excellent as well as distressing. If I can muster the energy maybe I will do a review here.
Trump, like his buddies, is a criminal. I would like to see him held to account for his crimes. So far, he has skated, and I suspect he will continue to skate. I just hope he skates out of the Oval Office, perhaps falling on his rear end a couple more times on the way.
For what it’s worth, I always read your book reviews with interest and appreciation.
TR (9bed35) — 10/7/2020 @ 8:46 amI would love to read your review of that book. The POV of someone with career experience with criminal investigations and an ideologically consistent, conservative POV would be a good read.
Time123 (66d88c) — 10/7/2020 @ 8:53 amSo tired of all the winning . . .
(Not That) Bill O'Reilly (6bb12a) — 10/7/2020 @ 8:59 amI wouldn’t take anything from Weissman.
He’s literally the poster child of a lawyer who abuses the law to fit his political agenda.
Also…”Trump, like his buddies, is a criminal.” We then, that explains everything.
whembly (c30c83) — 10/7/2020 @ 9:12 amI credit the NYT for not waiting until the last paragraph to identify Vance as a Democrat. Baby steps.
As for Weissmann, glad to see he’s cashing in.
Vance and Weissmann would sit on their hands if the target was a Democrat. For all the money, effort, rank partisanship, government resources at their disposal, and contouring the law like silly putty, they couldn’t bring down Trump. A microscopic virus has done what they couldn’t.
beer ‘n pretzels (8854a1) — 10/7/2020 @ 9:14 amDacha in Sochi and apartment in Moscow?
(We have an extradition treaty with Brazil.)
nk (1d9030) — 10/7/2020 @ 9:14 amIs this really a loss? I think his strategy is just to delay as long as possible. This further slows things down.
Time123 (af99e9) — 10/7/2020 @ 9:21 amPatterico, if Trump loses (and I think that is now certain), there is nothing to stop prosecution state or federal. I do think that Biden will pardon him for federal crimes, for a number of reasons, but I can’t see NY state doing the same. Maybe Cuomo will surprise me.
After the coming debacle down-ticket, there will be few actual Republicans (as opposed to the yahoos that Trump brought) who much care what happens to Trump. In fact, there may be some desire to make damn sure there’s a stake in the body, so that it doesn’t rise up again in 2024.
I can see state tax charges brought and, while he will never go to jail, he will spend the rest of his life avoiding it.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/7/2020 @ 10:01 amThis further slows things down.
It only has to last until November 4th. If he wins (HA!) the Court will take the case and find some narrow grounds to block the request, possibly based on the NY Times leak showing the political motives.
If he loses, no one will stand next to him.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/7/2020 @ 10:03 amVance and Weissmann would sit on their hands if the target was a Democrat.
Teddy Kennedy killed a girl by driving dead drunk, then got it covered up. I will believe again in the Rule of Law when powerful men, regardless of connections, go to prison for what they do, and not get off because of who they are.
For every Blagojevich, there’s a dozen Governor Corzines or Senator Menendezes
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/7/2020 @ 10:08 am8. You have to find a violation of law.
Now hat they maybe think they got him on is that he valued the same property at different values – high when asking for a bank loan, and low his tax returns. (estate taxes but maybe other things)
Trump could say who could say which is right or wrong?
Sammy Finkelman (4eddd7) — 10/7/2020 @ 10:10 amHigh for bank loans and low for property taxes.
Sammy Finkelman (4eddd7) — 10/7/2020 @ 10:11 amThis subpoena couldn’t have resulted in the leek because it hasn’t been complied with yet.
Time123 (af99e9) — 10/7/2020 @ 10:12 amYou are right.
But the solution is that we make accountability and equality before the law a priority. It is not ‘we fight how they do, so let’s be as corrupt as we imagine they are’.
Trump’s gotta go.
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/7/2020 @ 10:20 amNow hat they maybe think they got him on is that he valued the same property at different values – high when asking for a bank loan, and low his tax returns. (estate taxes but maybe other things)
Different rules. You don’t use depreciation when assessing collateral.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/7/2020 @ 10:25 amThis subpoena couldn’t have resulted in the leek because it hasn’t been complied with yet.
Didn’t say it was, but Trump’s argument that this is a fishing expedition to get material for political purposes is bolstered by evidence of that political interest and the certainty that leaked material will make it into the press.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/7/2020 @ 10:26 am@13
Some of the banks already complied.
whembly (c30c83) — 10/7/2020 @ 10:43 amOur ever hopeful host wrote:
I do, too, on January 20, 2025..
The Dana in Kentucky (9f85a3) — 10/8/2020 @ 5:59 pmBeelzebub gave his blessing to Pence.
nk (1d9030) — 10/8/2020 @ 6:35 pm