U.S. Supreme Court rules some Trump financial records can be revealed
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that not even the president is above the law in a case that could finally reveal Donald Trump's long-hidden personal and business financial history.
The court said the president could not block a New York grand jury subpoena demanding his tax documents.
In a 7-2 decision the Republican-appointed Chief Justice John Robert wrote, 'In our judicial system, “the public has a right to every man’s evidence.” Since the earliest days of the Republic, “every man” has included the President of the United States.'
The decision a defeat for the Trump and his legal team, who tried to claim in arguments before lower courts that the president had immunity from criminal prosecution - even, as Trump once boasted, if he shot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue.
Roberts was joined by the four liberal members of the court, and by both of Trump's hand-picked Justices: Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
The case springs from a Manhattan prosecutor's criminal probe into alleged hush-money payments Trump made to two women who claim they had sexual affairs with him before he became a political candidate.
District attorney Cyrus Vance is seeking eight years of records from Trump's long-time accounting firm, Mazar's.
On Thursday, Vance called the ruling "a tremendous victory for our nation’s system of justice and its founding principle that no one – not even a president – is above the law."
But in second opinion, the same seven Supreme Court justices blocked - for now - subpoenas from Congressional committees seeking Trump's taxes. They sent the matter back to lower courts for review.
Trump reacted on Twitter, writing, "The Supreme Court sends case back to Lower Court, arguments to continue. This is all a political prosecution... Not fair to this Presidency or Administration!"
Trump has gone to incredible lengths to keep his financial information out of the public eye, deploying the Justice Department and his own personal lawyers to battle prosecutors and Congressional committees seeking his tax history.
The content of these records has remained a persistent mystery even as he seeks re-election on Nov. 3.
And while Thursday's rulings amount to a rebuke of Trump's legal arguments, they do deliver a short-term victory: voters are unlikely to see the any of the documents before election day.
