The bad news keeps coming for Donald Trump. And this time it arrived gift-wrapped from a federal court in New York as part of a larger ruling regarding a subpoena for the president’s tax returns.
According to the Washington Post:
“A federal judge … dismissed President Trump’s lawsuit seeking to block the Manhattan district attorney from obtaining the president’s tax returns as part of an investigation into hush-money payments during the 2016 campaign.
“That decision does not mean Trump’s tax returns will be handed over immediately. Trump appealed within minutes, and an appeals court put the case on hold until it can hear the president’s challenge.”
But it was what U.S. Judge Victor Marrero had to say in his ruling regarding Trump’s argument that he cannot be investigated by any prosecutor in any jurisdiction while he’s in office that must have sent a chill across the West Wing of the White House.
Judge Marrero wrote that such a notion was “repugnant” to the ideal put forth in the Constitution that no man — no matter his office or rank — is above the law:
“The Court cannot square a vision of presidential immunity that would place the President above the law with the text of the Constitution, the historical record, the relevant case law” or other authority.
“This Court cannot endorse such a categorical and limitless assertion of presidential immunity from judicial process.”
Translation, the judge just let Trump and his legal team know that they’re not going to win in court on the argument that a president is immune from investigation, indictment, or prosecution. While the Justice Department under Trump’s handpicked toady, Attorney General William Barr, will never indict Trump (in part thanks to a memo from the DOJ’s office of legal counsel saying such a move would be too distracting for a sitting head of state), any state can file charges against Trump.
And since that subpoena for Trump’s tax records came in response to a legal order in Manhattan, we know that there is already an ongoing investigation and an empaneled grand jury that’s taking a close look at possible Trump crimes in New York state, which is also where the Trump Organization is headquartered.
Indictments are likely coming in New York, and when they’re handed down, Judge Marrero let it be known that Donald Trump will not be able to claim absolute immunity.
The imaginary wall of protection Donald Trump thinks he has around him is crumbling.