Supreme Court Will Decide If Trump Has To Turn Over His Financial Records

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The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Trump’s challenges to three cases where he and financial institutions have been subpoenaed for his financial records.

Via The Washington Post:
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide whether President Trump may shield disclosure of his financial information from congressional committees and a New York prosecutor, raising the prospect of a landmark election-year ruling on a president’s immunity from investigation while he is in office.

Trump had asked the court to accept the cases, which will be heard in March, with a ruling before the court’s session ends in late June. It means that whatever the outcome of Trump’s impeachment proceedings, the controversies over investigations into Trump’s conduct will continue into the heart of the presidential election campaign.

Analysis: The Trunp strategy is twofold. The president is trying to drag out the withholding of his financial records until after the 2020 election, where he hopes that Republicans will win back the House, and all of the investigations into his finances will go away.

The second element in play is that Donald Trump wants to expand the powers of the presidency. Trump’s appeal to the Supreme Court is a test of congressional oversight power. If Supreme Court rules in Trump’s favor, it would represent a weakening of the Executive Branch, and another step toward the president’s goal of unlimited executive power.

Trump is playing a dangerous game because a loss will cause the release of his records at the height of the 2020 election, which could result in an act of self-sabotage that will be the biggest October surprise in recent memory.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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