A New York prosecutor has urged a judge not to allow US President Donald Trump to run out the clock on a criminal probe that is currently seeking the president’s much-sought-after tax returns.
Carey Dunne, general counsel for District Attorney Cyrus Vance, spoke at a hearing in federal court in Manhattan to discuss a renewed legal challenge by the president to block or narrow Vance’s ability to see the documents.
Vance has sought the records as part of an investigation into reports that Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen paid pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to buy her silence before the 2016 presidential election about claimed sexual encounters with Trump, which he has denied.
|
US Supreme Court rules Trump financial records can be subpoenaed |
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that Vance’s office could obtain Trump’s financial records as part of an August 2019 subpoena issued to Trump’s accounting firm Mazars USA, which sought to obtain eight years of personal and corporate tax returns.
The court rejected the president’s lawyers’ arguments that he is immune from investigation while he holds office or that a prosecutor must show a greater need than normal to obtain the records.
Dunne told US District Judge Victor Marrero there are looming deadlines to prosecute cases because of statutes of limitations, and more delays could give Trump the “absolute temporary immunity” the US Supreme Court has rejected.
“Let’s not let delay kill this case,” Dunne said. “Justice delayed becomes justice denied.”
Highly sought-after tax returns
Meanwhile, William Consovoy, a lawyer for Trump, said the president could argue that the subpoena was “wildly overbroad”, reflecting Vance’s bad faith.
He added that Vance, a Democrat, might have gone after the Republican president to harass him or because of political differences.
Vance has denied having motivations beyond the criminal investigation.
Consovoy also said the subpoena was similar to congressional subpoenas that the Supreme Court last week refused to enforce, and instead sent back down to a lower court.
Trump’s tax returns have been at the centre of public interest since his campaign, when he vowed to release the documents but later reversed his position, citing an audit by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
|
The Constitution vs. Trump – People and Power |
Although not required by law, it has become customary for presidential candidates to release their tax returns in recent decades.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll recently found that 66 percent of American adults agreed that Trump should release his tax returns from earlier years, and 68 percent said Americans have a right to see presidential candidates’ returns before the November 3 election.
However, even if Vance prevails in obtaining Trump’s documents, grand jury secrecy rules make it unlikely they will become public soon.
That could change if criminal charges were brought against the president or other defendants.
The litigation from Trump’s team has made it unlikely this would happen, at least until after the election.
During Thursday’s court appearance, Judge Marrero approved a jointly negotiated schedule giving Trump until July 27 to file papers formally opposing the subpoena and its scope. Vance, for his part, agreed he would not enforce the subpoena through that date.
