Donald Trump, the former president of the United States, faced a double defeat on Monday at the Supreme Court, a body he transformed with appointments before the general election and one he had long hoped would become a last line of defense in his legal battles with liberal Democrats and Congress. The justices refused the former president’s last chance to shield his private financial records district attorney of Manhattan in one case and flip a slew of challenges to the 2020 Presidential Election and his loss to Democratic Joe Biden.
Trump chose one of the three justices for the court – Brett M. Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barret, and Neil M. Gorsuch – publicly opposed the order seeking his assiduously guarded tax records or settled that his reappointment defeat was spoiled. Now, the former president faces an extraordinary legal threat for him. The criminal investigation of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.’s business dealings in New York will expand and accelerate, and Trump faces investigation in Georgia for his efforts to subvert the 2020 election results there.
Previously, the former president said that the Supreme Court lacked courage and wisdom because of its denial to accept challenges to the election. Trump responded to Monday’s court order about his tax records with a statement mentioning “the Continuing Political Persecution of President Donald Trump.” He wrote that the Supreme Court should never let this fishing expedition’ happen, but they did. It is something that never happened to any president previously, and it is all Democrat-inspired in a completely Democrat location, New York state, and city.
Political Witch Hunt
Trump described Vance’s investigation as the greatest political witch hunt in U.S. history and accused Democrats of New York to expend their energy on taking down their political rival instead of handling violent crimes. Trump further adds that it is fascism, not justice – and that is what Democrats are trying to do with respect to him, except that the American people won’t stand for it. Furthermore, the Supreme Court’s action doesn’t require the former president to do anything.
The court requested the records of the dispute from Mazars – a third party, not Trump himself. Previously, Vance told Trump’s lawyers that his office would be free to instantly enforce the order if the justices rejected the former president’s request. A Mazar’s spokesperson said that the company remains devoted to fulfilling all its legal and professional obligations. Unlike all other recent former American presidents, Trump refused to make his tax returns public. The statistics could provide all particulars of his wealth and the details of the activities of his family real-estate company – the Trump Organization.
The latest action of the Supreme Court, which followed the hiring of Vance this month with deep experience in organized crime and white-collar cases, could boost the investigation of district attorney into the Trump Organization following a spell of recent orders. On Friday, Reuters reported that Vance’s office summoned a New York City property tax agency, suggesting prosecutors are investigating Trump’s efforts to lessen his commercial real-estate taxes for potential evidence of fraud.
Trump continues to face legal issues concerning business and personal conduct
The Supreme Court, whose six-three conservative majority includes three appointments from the former president, had already ruled once in the subpoena issue, July 2020, discarding the obvious argument of Trump that he was immune from criminal investigations as a sitting president. Moreover, Donald Trump, who left office on 20th January after losing the 3rd November election to President Joe Biden, continues to face a series of legal issues regarding business and personal conduct.
In 2019, Vance subpoenaed Mazars seeking personal and corporate tax returns of Trump from 2011 to 2018. In addition, the former president’s lawyers prosecuted to block the subpoena, arguing that a sitting president of the United States has complete immunity from state criminal investigations. Likewise, in July, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected those arguments but said Donald Trump could raise other subpoena oppositions.
Furthermore, the former president’s lawyers sued to block the subpoena and argued that a country’s sitting president has absolute immunity from the criminal investigations of the state. The investigating of Vance primarily focused on hush money paid by Michael Cohen, the president’s former lawyer and fixer before the 2016 presidential election to former Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. The two women claimed that they had sexual relations with Trump, which he denied.
Vance suggested in recent court filings that the investigation is now bigger and may focus on the possible potential bank, insurance, and tax fraud, along with falsification of business records. Cohen stated that the United States Supreme Court now declared that no one is above the law. So, for the first time, Donald Trump will have to take responsibility for his own bad decisions and deeds.
Supreme Court’s order did not explain its delay on Trump’s request
On Monday, the Supreme Court didn’t explain the four months delay of the court to act on Trump’s request for instant action. It appears probably that the court didn’t want interference in the weeks before the election. Then it was overwhelmed with challenges to Trump’s defeat. Furthermore, the latest dispute is a development to a July decision by the high court that Trump is not immune from a criminal probe while he holds office.
Source: Web
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority in that 7-2 decision from July that not any national, not even the president, is definitely above the common duty to produce evidence when court called upon in a criminal case. However, the justices said that Trump has the option to challenge the subpoena, as every citizen may be issued in bad faith or for being overbroad.
The rejection of the election cases from the Supreme Court was according to the expectations, although there was a bit more difference in opinions among the justices. Likewise, the court removed itself from a range of lawsuits filed by the former president and his allies in Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania – all states won by Democratic Biden. The most important thing was a months-long conflict overextending the deadline of Pennsylvania for receiving mail-in ballots.
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