The Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked the Supreme Court to stop the Democrats’ endless legal harassment of Donald Trump.
The DOJ urged the high court to throw out subpoenas from Congress and New York prosecutors for Trump’s personal financial records, as the president appeals two lower court decisions in which those subpoenas were upheld, The Hill reported. Solicitor General Noel Francisco argued that the demands for Trump’s personal information simply don’t pass constitutional muster.
“These cases involve the first attempts by congressional committees to demand the personal records of a sitting President of the United States,” the Justice Department said. “That use of their limited and implied investigatory powers poses a serious risk of harassing the President and distracting him from his constitutional duties.
DOJ fights “harassment” of Trump
Trump has had an extraordinarily lucky week: he gave a powerful State of the Union address on Tuesday night that followed the implosion of the Iowa Democratic caucuses on Monday, and he will soon claim victory in the impeachment sham when the Senate acquits him on Wednesday afternoon. Still, that doesn’t mean that intrusions into his personal and presidential life are over.
In April, Democrats subpoenaed records from Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, as well as from Deutsche Bank and Capital One, asserting that the information is necessary for an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Meanwhile, New York prosecutors looking into Stormy Daniels tabloid marginalia from 2018 about alleged “campaign finance violations” are also seeking records from Mazars.
In a pair of filings, the DOJ pushed back against what they called an unprecedented campaign of harassment that threatens the president’s privacy and his ability to run the country without unwarranted interference. In one such filing, the Justice Department said that the House failed to show a “legitimate” purpose in obtaining Trump’s records and that the committees’ stated reasons for seeking them — investigating Russian interference and closing loopholes in money laundering laws, respectively — were vague, confused, and placed an undue burden on the president.
“Committees investigating far-reaching public problems such as money laundering, do not properly exercise that discretion by making the president the primary target of their inquiries,” the Justice Department said.
Endless litigation continues
In a second filing responding to the subpoena from Manhattan prosecutors, the DOJ similarly stressed that the case “involves the first attempt in our Nation’s history by a local prosecutor to subpoena personal records of the sitting President of the United States.” They warned that a state subpoena would impair the independence of the presidency while opening the door for “communities to use such subpoenas to register their disapproval of the President’s policies.”
“State grand-jury subpoenas for a sitting President’s personal records pose serious risks to the independent functioning of the Office of the President,” the department wrote. “State prosecutors could use such subpoenas to harass the President in retaliation for the President’s official policies. Such subpoenas could also subject the President to significant burdens, threatening to divert the President’s time and energy from his singularly important public duties.”
The pursuit of Trump’s personal information, like the failed impeachment coup, is just another example of the Democrats’ unfairness and relentless barratry. From Russian collusion to the Ukraine melodrama that is now fizzling out, the Democrats have been consumed with taking down Trump by any means necessary since 2016 — but fact is that Trump is now stronger than ever.
The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in the cases on March 31.
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