Two major rulings by the Supreme Court today will ensure that con man and career criminal Donald "Individual 1" Trump will have to comply with a grand jury subpoena out of the Manhattan District Attorney's office, and will eventually have to provide some information to Congress under their subpoenas. Both cases are being sent back to the lower courts for further action. The remaining question is whether any evidence of Trump's financial and tax illegalities will surface before the 2020 elections.
In the first ruling, Trump v. Vance, the Court denied Trump's contention that he was immune to prosecution by the Manhattan grand jury looking into his payment of hush money to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal for evidence of state tax or business regulations. Trump still has a much weakened ability to fight in lower court, but his main contention that he is immune from prosecution due to his position was denied by the Court. Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance reacted to the ruling:
“This is 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. Our investigation, which was delayed for almost a year by this lawsuit, will resume, guided as always by the grand jury’s solemn obligation to follow the law and the facts, wherever they may lead.”Since grand juries are legally bound to secrecy, unlike Congress, we can't expect information regarding their findings or deliberations to leak, but we can expect that Vance will move aggressively in the coming weeks to advance the case and perhaps issue grand jury indictments near election day.
In the second ruling, Trump v. Mazars USA, Congressional committees who were looking for evidence of tax fraud, bank fraud and money laundering involving Deutsche Bank and others will have to narrow their scope. They had subpoenaed the tax accounting firm of Mazars USA and Deutsche Bank, but were blocked by Trump's suit of the accounting firm which said the subpoenas were too broad. The committees will have to narrow the scope of their subpoenas to the lower court, since the Court ruled that the lower court gave insufficient consideration to the separation of powers concerns.
Deliciously, both Trump judges Kavanaugh and Gorsuch joined Chief Justice Roberts in the majority in both cases. Sad!
Meanwhile, a nervous Trump feels the heat coming, especially in the New York criminal case:
The Supreme Court sends case back to Lower Court, arguments to continue. This is all a political prosecution. I won the Mueller Witch Hunt, and others, and now I have to keep fighting in a politically corrupt New York. Not fair to this Presidency or Administration!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2020
He knows it's only a matter of time now. The big question that should be posed to any persuadable voters is "what the hell is he hiding in his taxes and finances that he's fought tooth and nail to hide for four years?" The truth will out eventually, if not before November.
BONUS:
Someone is not happy. #TrumpTaxes pic.twitter.com/PfkqaGhlLy— Frank Figliuzzi (@FrankFigliuzzi1) July 9, 2020
The Vance case should be expedited in the lower courts. If the Nixon tapes case could be decided in three months and Bush v. Gore could be decided in one month, this really should not drag out beyond the November election.— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) July 9, 2020
If courts can decide a Presidential election start to finish in 36 days, &decide the Nixon tapes subpoena case start to finish in under 4 months,it's easy for courts to decide the New York case, particularly since the SCOTUS opinion today leaves Trump with very little left to say— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) July 9, 2020
