Donald Trump on Friday night scrambled for every possible response to the appointment of a special counsel to investigate him — from a declaration that he’s one of the most “honest and innocent people” to suggesting that any new indictments could be “double jeopardy.”
I’m almost at the point of hoping to see him get re-elected so he can get impeached yet again.
No, I’m not. But if that jackass does get back into office, congress needs to impeach and convict him to prove they’re doing their constitutional duty.
You just reminded me of something. Weren’t the pubbies all freaking out about Ms. Clinton running for office in New York, but now it’s okay for their hero to claim he’s Floridian when he’s a >gasp< New Yorker?
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a bid by former President Donald Trump to prevent Congress from obtaining his federal income tax returns and those of related business entities from the IRS.
The decision sets the stage for the Democrat-controlled House Ways and Means Committee to obtain Trump’s tax returns in the weeks before Republicans take majority control of the House.
GOP lawmakers have vowed to end the committee’s quest to obtain the records and a related probe into how the Internal Revenue Service audits the tax returns of sitting presidents.
The Republican House isn’t going to launch an investigation based on anything these records reveal. And what can the current House possibly do with them in the time they have left?
Does this possibly give the DOJ any more fuel, or can we assume they’ve had these records all along?
I understand that the equivalent Senate committee (I believe it’s Finance) — which will be chaired by Democrat Ron Wyden — has the same on-demand access to IRS records. Now that the House committee has been cleared, a request from the Senate should get a quick response.
The potential joker in the pack is whether the committee will be 50/50 D and R, or majority D. Which won’t be known until the GA runoff. But that shouldn’t affect the records request.
Can they send them to the New York prosecutor who is looking into fraudulent dealings by Trump? ie undervaluing assets for the IRS and overvaluing assets for investors.
As for “so what?” it will satisfy a lot of people’s curiosity about trumpy’s actual worth. It won’t answer all questions, but it might give a ballpark sense of how much he has lied about his wealth. That’s reason enough for me. There’s also a bit of “gotcha!” involved-- he has employed every trick in the book (and probably most of the accountants in the US) to keep this revelation from happening. That’s also reason enough to pull back the covers.
I’m definitely not suggesting another investigation-- dear God, there are too many of those underway right now!
I’ll be sorely disappointed if the returns reveal nothing more than lies about his wealth. After all the time and effort Trump spent blocking this release, I’m hoping they reveal some sort of smoking gun about money laundering for Putin.
But given his endless vanity, I realize there’s a good chance it’s just about hiding his meager income. Unfortunately, few of his supporters are sophisticated enough to connect the dots and realize his whole “self-made billionaire” schtick has been a sham all along.
Beyond wealth or lack thereof, they could provide evidence that the emoluments clause was knowingly and deliberately violated and how it was (foreign powers or plain jane domestic corruption). There’s also whether or not he’s actually disclosed all his potential conflicts of interest, which even some Republicans may want to make sure aren’t too extreme. There are plenty of things that may not be explicitly illegal but could have and should have triggered some red flags.
Sure, everybody “knows” these things are out there but “everybody knows” does not quite clear the legal bar.
