Trump Angry at Supreme Court Refusal to Block Financial Records

The former-president lashed out against the Supreme Court to allow the Manhattan district attorney’s office access to his financial records. On Feb. 22, 2021, their ruling ends Donald Trump’s 18-month battle to keep his documents from the DA.

This was a definitive loss for the president as he has gone to great lengths to keep his tax returns and related documents secret. The ruling today was the second time Trump sought the court’s assistance to quash the district attorney’s investigation.

Last year, he petitioned the Supreme Court to block the same financials. He asserted that state prosecutors could not investigate a sitting president.

The justices did not agree with Trump’s argument; they ruled that no citizen was above being compelled to produce evidence.

Today the court denied the former-president’s emergency request to block the district attorney’s subpoena — effectively ending the case, reports The New York Times.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. will now have access to Trump’s coveted records. His office will have eight years of the president’s personal and corporate tax returns and other financials the investigators deem vital to their inquiry. They are looking for evidence that Trump manipulated property values to secure loans and tax records.

Trump angrily characterized the investigation as a political attack by New York Democrats. He called Vance’s inquiry “a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in the history of our Country,” he wrote in his statement. Trump once again falsely claimed he won the 2020 general election.

The Supreme Court never should have let this fishing expedition happen, but they did.

He bemoaned New York City prosecutors reviewing each transaction he’s ever made. Furthermore, they are seeking tax returns that were done by “the biggest and most prestigious law and accounting firms in the U.S.”

Written by Cathy Milne-Ware

Source:

The New York Times: Supreme Court Denies Trump’s Final Bid to Block Release of Tax Returns; by Adam Liptak, William K. Rashbaum, Ben Protess, and Benjamin Weiser

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Inset Image Courtesy of Gage Skidmore’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License