A federal judge on Thursday dismissed President Donald Trump’s newest effort to block the Manhattan district attorney from gaining access to eight years of the president’s …
A federal judge on Thursday dismissed President Donald Trump’s newest effort to block the Manhattan district attorney from gaining access to eight years of the president’s tax returns and other financial records. In his 103-page ruling, U. S. District Judge Victor Marrero ruled that Trump’s latest attempt to block New York Country District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.’s subpoena for his tax returns was a roundabout way for the president to invoke immunity from judicial processes. Trump’s legal team had previously argued before the Supreme Court and lower courts that a sitting president has absolute immunity from state criminal subpoenas because compliance with them would impair the performance of his presidential duties. The top court in July had already rejected the argument, saying that “no citizen, not even the President, is categorically above the common duty to produce evidence when called upon in a criminal proceeding.” Although the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s arguments, it left the door open for Trump to seek recourse by challenging the subpoena on other grounds. The president’s legal team filed a second challenge against the subpoena in late July. Marrero, a Clinton appointee, said Trump’s new claims that the Manhattan district attorney’s subpoena is overbroad and hence issued in bad faith had already been thoroughly argued in the president’s first complaint, and by seeking to re-argue the same issues would “prolong the President’s noncompliance with the grand jury’s demand for the documents in dispute.
