Trump under attack even after impeachment: Now follows a bitter defeat around his taxes

Washington, DC – After the failed impeachment process, Donald Trump is now increasingly under pressure. In the long dispute over his tax documents, the US Supreme Court has now decided that the former US president must submit his tax documents to the New York prosecutor. However, the documents are not to be published.

Trump had previously submitted a request to the Supreme Court by which he wanted to prevent the disclosure of his tax documents. This Supreme Court decision is a bitter defeat for Trump. He is in a protracted legal battle with the New York Public Prosecutor, which reached the Supreme Court last summer.

Litigation with New York Public Prosecutor: Supreme Court decides

As early as July 2020, the Supreme Court had agreed to Trump, who was still US President at the time, “absolute immunity” in the legal dispute and granted the district attorney in Manhattan the right to inspect Trump’s financial files. The litigation then went to lower instances and dragged on. The case finally landed again at the Supreme Court, which has now ruled a second time in favor of the public prosecutor.

For years, Donald Trump has tried to prevent his accounting firm Mazars and the credit institutions Deutsche Bank and Capitol One from publishing his financial and tax documents. He aroused the suspicion in various critics that he had something to hide. The disclosure of financial and tax records by senior officials has a long history in the United States and is considered evidence of trustworthiness. However, Donald Trump had always refused to hand over these documents. This makes him the first president since Richard Nixon to refuse to disclose tax returns.

Donald Trump under pressure: suspected of tax evasion and banking and insurance fraud

The Manhattan prosecutor wants to see Trump and his companies’ tax records for the past eight years. The public prosecutor Cyrus Vance had already requested the documents from the Mazars accounting firm and threatened with fines if they refused.

There is not only suspicion of tax evasion in the room, but the investigation is also about alleged hush money payments. Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen is said to have paid the porn star Stormy Daniels and the former playmate Karen McDougal hush money. Both women have announced that they have had affairs with Trump, which Trump has always denied. In addition, there is suspicion of banking and insurance fraud at the Trump Organization, in which Trump bundles his businesses.

Trump reacts: litigation is “political witch hunt”

Trump has already expressed himself in a written statement: He criticized the proceedings of the prosecutor in New York as a “political witch hunt”. In his opinion, prosecutors and prosecutors want to get rid of their political opponents through legal channels. This approach is a threat to the freedom ruling in the United States. In addition, he wrote that such a procedure is otherwise only to be found “in third world countries”. Trump also used the opportunity directly to reiterate that he actually won the presidential election in November. He also stressed that he wanted to keep fighting. He declared: “We will win”.

The New York Times had already reported last year that Trump had not paid federal income tax for ten or fifteen years. The Supreme Court ruling now means that the New York District Attorney’s office can proceed with their investigation. (dpa / at)

List of rubric lists: © Evan Vucci / dpa