The intent of Donald Trump to avoid delivering eight years of tax returns to the Manhattan district Attorney falls for the second time on the backburner. A federal appeals court based in New York city considered, in a ruling made public Monday, that the president can’t claim an alleged immunity to appeal the application of the prosecutor Cyrus Vance, who is trying to determine if the republican paid out of his pocket during the campaign to two women with whom he had relationships. Its lawyers have responded saying they will take the legal battle to the Supreme Court.
The judge Victor Marrero was the first to dismiss a month ago, the petition of Trump, after rejecting the argument that this case could affect the fulfilment of their constitutional duties as president. The interpretation of “unlimited” that the lawyers of the president made of the presidential immunity, he then explained in an extensive opinion which occupied 75 pages in length, you would place them “above the law”. The court of appeals has also rejected the argument that Trump is immune while you are at the forefront of executive.
in The opinion of its three judges are limited to deciding whether a state prosecutor may require the personal financial data of the president while in the White House, without getting to consider about if you are immune to an indictment or prosecution. So, judge Robert Katzman argues that “any presidential immunity from criminal process state does not prevent the enforcement of such subpoena,” which has as its object to assist the investigation of potential crimes, “even if you can entail in any way the president”.
The president’s attorneys are, in any case, willing to adopt any dilatory and they’re going to raise the legal battle with Vance until the Supreme court in their attempt to avoid review of their finances. “The issues raised in this case”, have told lawyers for Trump, “go to the heart of our republic.” “The constitutional aspects are significant.” It is likely that the last word has the Supreme, who is currently a conservative majority and two of its nine members were desigandos by the president himself.
Cyrus Vance claims to Trump the data on its statements of income and personal business from 2011. The Department of Justice, for its part, urged the federal appeals court that it objected to the subpoena of the state. With the rejection of the appeal, the accounting firm Mazars should give a grand jury the required documents, which were already claimed in August last in the framework of the investigation of the payments made to the porn actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal’s lawyer Michael Cohen.
Cohen, that you meet a sentence of three years in prison among other charges for violating the rules of campaign financing, paid $ 130,000 to Daniels and $ 150,000 to McDougal. The disbursements were made shortly before the presidential election in 2016. The own lawyer stated to the researchers that these payments were ordered by Trump. Now is cooperating with the investigation of Vance, who agreed to give ten days of margin to the legal representatives of the president to submit his application before the Supreme court.
The judge Katzman noted in a footnote to the last six presidents since Jimmy Carter published voluntarily their tax returns. “It reinforces our conclusion that the disclosure of personal financial information, by itself, is unlikely to harm the president in the performance of the functions of his office”. The change of residence of the Trump of New York for Florida, one of the favorite destinations of the great fortunes of the US looking to pay less tax, should not affect the case.
