Update to Judge rejects Trump’s attempt to obstruct production of financial records to Cyrus Vance.
I suggested that “given the fact that Trump’s lawyers basically reargued the same set of facts previously litigated all the way up to the Supreme Court, it is possible that the court of appeals will take the position “we’ve already heard all this before and decided the matter,” and deny the request for stay.”
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday denied President Trump’s request to immediately delay his financial records from being turned over to a New York state grand jury, and scheduled a hearing for September 1. Appeals court won’t step in for now on Trump tax records:
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Trump’s request to immediately put Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.’s subpoena on hold while Trump appeals to try to get it invalidated.
The appeals court said it would hold a hearing on the request for a delay, but not until Sept. 1. After winning a lower court ruling, Vance’s office had agreed not to enforce the subpoena before Aug. 28.
The DA’s office declined to comment on what the appeals court ruling might mean for that time frame. Messages were sent to Trump’s lawyers.
The case has already been to the Supreme Court and back, and Trump has said he expects it to end up there again.
Even if the tax records ultimately are subpoenaed, they would be part of a confidential grand jury investigation and not automatically made public.
The Supreme Court ruled last month that the presidency in itself doesn’t shield Trump from Vance’s investigation.
But the high court returned the case to a Manhattan federal judge’s courtroom to allow Trump’s lawyers to raise other concerns about the subpoena. They did, arguing that it was issued in bad faith, might have been politically motivated and amounted to harassment.
U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero rejected those arguments Thursday — and then turned down a request from Trump’s lawyers to delay enforcement of the subpoena while they appeal his decision.
“The president has not demonstrated that he will suffer irreparable harm” if the records are turned over for a grand jury probe that would keep them secret, he wrote Friday morning.
Trump’s lawyers asked the appeals court for the same delay and got their answer hours later.
Vance’s attorneys have said they are legally entitled to extensive records to aid a “complex financial investigation.”
It appears that the Second Circuit is inclined to deny the request for stay, allowing Cyrus Vance to enforce the subpoena after the September 1 hearing. Trump will no doubt appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court from this interlocutory order, but the Supreme Court made it plain in its earlier ruling that it did not find the usual objections raised to a subpoena all that persuasive, so what would compel the court to grant certiorari a second time, other than out of pure political partisanship? The court has already decided the constitutional questions, so there is none presented here.
Cyrus Vance should get his team of financial experts lined up and ready to review Trump’s financial records from Mazars USA, because he is going to get those records. Present his case to the grand jury and return some indictments. It’s time to bring an end to the Trump crime family.
