Trump Tax Return Ruling Could Open a Door to Indictment [View all]

[Laura PourMeADrink]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-tax-return-ruling-could-180002869.html

Bloomberg Opinion) -- A federal district judge in New York has held that the Manhattan district attorney ttorney may subpoena Donald Trump’s tax records as part of a criminal investigation.

Apart from the obvious political implications, there’s something constitutionally significant about the decision by Judge Victor Marrero, a Bill Clinton appointee. The judge took the opportunity to attack two memos written by the Department of Justice, both of which maintain that a sitting president cannot be criminally prosecuted. These memos form the basis for the department’s current policy of not indicting a sitting president in federal court.

Yet the judge left no doubt that he considered the memos’ conclusions “not warranted” — and that in his view, a president can be criminally investigated and perhaps even prosecuted while in office.

This is the first time a federal court has ever seriously raised the possibility that a sitting president could be criminally prosecuted. Although the judge’s decision will certainly be reconsidered on appeal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit — and very possibly by the Supreme Court — it needs and deserves serious attention on its own terms.
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