Donald Trump (screen capture)
Ezra Miller, Elephants + More News Stories
Ezra Miller (photo: Gage Skidmore – CC license)
Justice Dept Says Trump Tax Returns Must Be Released To Congress
Get ready for an angry statement from ‘the former guy’ as the Department of Justice announced today that Donald Trump’s tax returns must be released by the IRS to Congress. Continue reading “Justice Dept Says Trump Tax Returns Must Be Released To Congress”
Supreme Court Refuses To Shield Trump Tax Returns
Donald Trump (image via Flickr/WhiteHouse – public domain)
The justices without comment rebuffed Trump’s request to put on hold an Oct. 7 lower court ruling directing the Republican businessman-turned-politician’s longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA, to comply with a subpoena to turn over the materials to a grand jury convened by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, a Democrat.
“The work continues,” Vance said in a statement issued after the court’s action.
Trump issued a statement describing Vance’s investigation as part of “the greatest political witch hunt in the history of our country,” accusing New York Democrats of expending their energy on taking down a political opponent instead of tackling violent crimes.
Read more at Reuters.
Trump responds to SCOTUS decision on his tax returns, claiming he’s the victim of “political persecution.” pic.twitter.com/JTFlR3WirS
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) February 22, 2021
Trump Takes Tax Returns Case Back To SCOTUS After Losing In Lower Courts
Donald Trump during a White House press briefing (public domain)
If the Supreme Court agrees to hear his appeal, it will be the second time the court has taken the case, which is related to an ongoing criminal probe of the Trump Organization, the president’s company, by Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office.
Trump’s lawyers in their filing Tuesday said “there is a reasonable probability that” the Supreme Court will take the appeal.
In the meantime, Vance has agreed to hold off on enforcing the subpoena pending the outcome of Trump’s efforts at the Supreme Court.
Vance is seeking the tax returns and other records as part of a probe that is known to be eyeing how hush-money payments to women who say they had sex with Trump were accounted for by the Trump Organization. The president has denied having sex with either woman, porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Supreme Court: Manhattan DA Can See Trump Taxes, Congress Will Have To Wait
The current U.S. Supreme Court (image: public domain)
Vance is investigating whether the Trump Organization falsified business records to conceal hush payments to two women, including pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels, who alleged they had affairs with Trump years ago. Trump has denied those claims.
Vance is seeking Trump’s tax returns, among other records. The president has refused to make them public, unlike previous modern presidents. Because the records are for a grand jury investigation, they would not likely be disclosed before the election.
Separately, three House committees have sought bypass the president to obtain his financial records from his longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA, and financial institutions. The committees, all controlled by Democrats, say they are needed to check Trump’s financial disclosures and inform whether conflict-of-interest laws are tough enough.
In both cases, the justices ruled 7 to 2, with Trump nominees Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh joining the majorities. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented.”
Predictably, Trump went on an epic Twitter rant claiming ‘Prosecutorial Misconduct!’
The Supreme Court sends case back to Lower Court, arguments to continue. 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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2020
Courts in the past have given “broad deference”. BUT NOT ME!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2020
….No Republican Senate Judiciary response, NO “JUSTICE”, NO FBI, NO NOTHING. Major horror show REPORTS on Comey & McCabe, guilty as hell, nothing happens. Catch Obama & Biden cold, nothing. A 3 year, $45,000,000 Mueller HOAX, failed – investigated everything….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2020
….for another President. This is about PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT. We catch the other side SPYING on my campaign, the biggest political crime and scandal in U.S. history, and NOTHING HAPPENS. But despite this, I have done more than any President in history in first 3 1/2 years!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2020
Trump Turns To Supreme Court To Shield His Tax Returns
Donald Trump, who claims to be ‘the most transparent president in history,’ has asked the Supreme Court to prohibit his accounting firm from turning over eight years of his tax returns to Manhattan prosecutors per an appeals court ruling last week. What is it he’s hiding???
From the New York Times:
President Trump asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to bar his accounting firm from turning over eight years of his tax returns to Manhattan prosecutors.
The case, the first concerning Mr. Trump’s personal conduct and business dealings to reach the court, could yield a major ruling on the scope of presidential immunity from criminal investigations.
Last week, a unanimous three-judge panel of a federal appeals court in Manhattan ruled against Mr. Trump, rejecting his argument that he was absolutely immune from criminal investigation while he remains in office. The court, in a focused ruling, said state prosecutors may require third parties to turn over a sitting president’s financial records for use in a grand jury investigation.
Prosecutors have reportedly agreed not to pursue the Donald’s tax returns until SCOTUS either agrees to take the case or not. The case could result in a major ruling on the scope of presidential immunity from criminal investigations.
Appeals Court Rules Against Trump Attempt To Hide Tax Returns
CNBC reports that Donald Trump has lost in a second attempt to block a Congressional subpoena requesting his tax returns. What is this guy hiding?
A federal appeals court in a split ruling Friday rejected President Donald Trump’s bid to block a House committee subpoena for his income tax returns. The subpoena was issued earlier this year to Trump’s accountants at Mazars USA by the Democrat-controlled House Committee on Oversight and Reform for his tax returns.
A federal judge in Manhattan had denied Trump’s effort to block the subpoena. Trump then appealed that ruling to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.
That appeals court, in a 2-1 decision, upheld the lower court’s ruling on Friday. The dissent came from Judge Neomi Rao, who was appointed by Trump to that Manhattan-based appellate court.
Trump Ordered To Turn 8 Years Of Tax Returns Over To Manhattan DA
Donald Trump is that much closer to losing control of his tax filings after years of stonewalling against the presidential norm of disclosing them to the public. A federal judge on Monday rejected Trump’s argument that sitting presidents are immune from criminal investigations, and ordered Trump to turn over eight years of personal and corporate tax returns to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. The NYT reports:
The Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., has been investigating whether any New York State laws were broken when Mr. Trump and his company reimbursed the president’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, for payments he made in the run-up to the 2016 election to the pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels, who had said she had an affair with Mr. Trump.
In a 75-page ruling, Judge Marrero called the president’s argument “repugnant to the nation’s governmental structure and constitutional values.” Presidents, their families, and businesses are not above the law, the judge wrote.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers sued last month to block the subpoena, arguing that the Constitution effectively makes sitting presidents immune from all criminal inquiries until they leave the White House.
Federal judge orders Trump to produce tax returns to Manhattan DA, calling his argument that a president cannot even be investigated “repugnant to the nation’s governmental structure and constitutional values.” https://t.co/7K0bRsp9Qv
— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) October 7, 2019
Manhattan District Attorney Subpoenaed 8 Years Of Trump Tax Returns
As part of an investigation into the alleged hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels by Donald Trump, the District Attorney of Manhattan has subpoenaed 8 years of personal and corporate income tax returns by the Donald. From the New York Times:
The subpoena opens a new front in a wide-ranging effort to obtain copies of the president’s tax returns, which Mr. Trump initially said he would make public during the 2016 campaign but has since refused to disclose.
The subpoena was issued by the Manhattan district attorney’s office late last month, soon after it opened a criminal investigation into the role that the president and his family business played in hush-money payments made in the run-up to the election.
Both Mr. Trump and his company reimbursed Michael D. Cohen, the president’s former lawyer and fixer, for money Mr. Cohen paid to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels, a pornographic film actress who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump. The president has denied the affair.
"The state prosecutors are seeking a range of tax docs from the accounting firm, Mazars USA, including Trump's personal returns and those of his business, the Trump Org. The subpoena seeks federal and state returns for both the president and the company dating back to 2011." https://t.co/c6p17nptbv
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 16, 2019