Federal Prosecutors Ask Judge to Delay Subpoena of Trump Tax Returns
Prosecutors said they were considering whether to insert themselves in a lawsuit that argues the president cannot be criminally investigated.
By Benjamin Weiser and
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan told a judge Tuesday night that they are considering inserting themselves into a lawsuit filed last week by President Trump that argued he cannot be criminally investigated while in office.
The unusual court filing suggested that the president’s own Justice Department could take a position on a sweeping constitutional argument by Mr. Trump and his lawyers that has not been tested in a court.
It could also put the department in the middle of a larger dispute between Mr. Trump and the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which has issued a subpoena demanding eight years of the president’s personal and corporate returns.
Last week, Mr. Trump’s lawyers filed a lawsuit seeking to block the subpoena, arguing that a sitting president cannot be criminally investigated and releasing his tax returns would cause “irreparable harm.”
The federal prosecutors said in the three-page filing that they backed the president’s request for a temporary delay on the subpoena so that they could decide whether the government would offer an opinion on the “weighty constitutional issues” raised by the president’s lawyers.
“In view of those constitutional issues and the federal interests that they may implicate, the United States is currently considering whether to participate,” the office wrote. . . .
UPDATES:
o "Manhattan Judge Pauses DA's Subpoena Of Trump's Tax Returns" by Renae Merle Deanna Paul, The Washington Post, 25 September 2019
o "Trump Taxes: President Ordered To Turn Over Returns To Manhattan D.A." by William K. Rashbaum and
Copyright 2019 Martin P. All World Rights Expressly Reserved (no claim to The New York Times or The Washington Post content)
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