A federal judge Monday rejected President Donald Trump’s claim that he was immune from criminal investigations as part of his bid to block a subpoena from the Manhattan district attorney seeking eight years of personal and business tax returns.
The judge, Victor Marrero, tossed the lawsuit Trump’s legal team brought against District Attorney Cyrus Vance that argued Vance should not receive Trump’s tax returns because “‘[v]irtually all legal commenters agree’ that a sitting President of the United States is not ‘subject to the criminal process’ while he is in office.”
In a 75-page order, Marrero called the presidential immunity Trump invoked in the lawsuit to stop the production of tax documents “unqualified and boundless.”
“The president asserts an extraordinary claim in the dispute now before this court,” the Manhattan federal court judge wrote, later adding, “This Court cannot endorse such a categorical and limitless assertion of presidential immunity from” the judicial process.
In response to Trump asserting that not only he but his family, businesses and associates were immune from producing documents, Marrero ruled that presidents, their families and businesses were not above the law. Marrero called the president’s argument “repugnant to the nation’s governmental structure and constitutional values.”
A grand jury subpoena for the documents was issued by the Manhattan D.A.’s office to Mazars USA, which prepares the president’s tax returns, a little more than a month ago as part a probe into the Trump Organization about payments made to two women who allegedly had affairs with the president. Trump has denied the affairs.
The president’s attorneys filed an emergency order of appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Attorneys representing Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment from NBC News. The White House and Manhattan district attorney’s office declined comment.
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