Judge Victor Marrero
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-judge-rules-trump-must-turn-over-his-tax-returns-to-manhattan-da-but-trump-has-indicated-he-will-appeal/2019/10/07/29e1fda6-e8a4-11e9-85c0-85a098e47b37_story.html
Federal Judge Victor Marrero just ruled that a Manhattan district attorney may obtain Trump's tax records. Already approached by other attorneys about his tax records, Trump was shocked when his argument failed to sway Marrero: Trump claims that "as long as he is president, he cannot be investigated by any prosecutor, anywhere, for any reason." He argues that because it was already determined that presidents may not be indicted by federal prosecutors, he may be exempt from all investigations as well.
The importance of the Constitution has been ingrained in our memory since middle school. Within this text - that represents the foundation of the U.S. - is the description of how a president or other political official may be involuntarily removed from office, through the process of impeachment. While this involves the Senate and House of Representatives, not federal prosecutors, this investigation may be what leads to further progress in the current impeachment of Trump. I do not see it as unreasonable for an investigation to lead to new insights that could be used during the process of impeachment. I believe Trump wishes to claim immunity in order to further hinder the progress of his own impeachment.
How reasonable does Trump's argument appear to be?
What does Trump gain or lose should his tax returns be revealed to the public?
1 comment:
However unreasonable President Trump's argument may appear, the logic behind it stands valid because of the wording of the Constitution. Instead, this could be an opening into a discussion of the several flaws of the Constitution in relation to our country today. Maybe it would be wiser to think about how the Constitution's limited functions, such as the lack of explanation about federal prosecutors mentioned above, allow the president to circumvent impeachment or punishment and have leeway to do questionable things. But then again, considering the state of our divided government, it seems nearly impossible that any change could be made to the Constitution.
Should his tax returns be revealed to the public, I don't believe that it would make much of a difference in terms of support for the president. His opponents could have another reason to base their criticism of him on, but looking back at how many of his supporters stayed by him despite all of the controversial actions revealed in his history and what he does today, it seems unlikely that they will turn their backs against him after hearing about one more sketchy thing he has done.
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