By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
United States Supreme Court ruled 9-0 on Monday for a New York prosecutor to obtain Donald Trump’s tax returns, dealing a massive loss to a man who has fiercely fought to shield his financial papers from prosecutors.
The ruling, which now ensures that a grand jury gets to examine the tax papers, adds to the legal jeopardy Trump faces without the immunity that protected him while in in office as US president.
There are more than half a dozen other lawsuits against Trump, filed before or after he became president. He has sued or been sued more than 4,000 times in his lifetime.
His appeal in the tax case had been pending in the Supreme Court since late last year, and the court announced the ruling on Monday seemingly in reaction to a report by CNN four days earlier, titled ‘The Supreme Court is still sitting on Trump’s tax returns, and justices aren’t saying why’.
Trump’s tax documents will be subject to grand jury secrecy rules that restrict their public release.
According to CNN, the ruling is a bitter loss for Trump, even if the tax records are shielded from public disclosure, after he consistently argued that the subpoena issued by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance was overbroad and issued in bad faith.
It means that the grand jury investigation into alleged hush money payments and other issues will no longer be hampered by Trump’s fight to keep the documents secret.
The ruling was issued without comment or noted dissent.
Vance celebrated the order, saying in a tweet, “The work continues.” Trump’s legal team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Although Trump’s personal lawyers may continue to fight their appeal in the case, the fact that the documents will be released by Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars, effectively ends the dispute.
Mazars, in a statement, says it is “committed to fulfilling all of our professional and legal obligations.”
The company adds: “Due to our industry’s professional obligations Mazars cannot discuss any clients, or the nature of our services we provide for any client, in a public forum without client consent or as required by law.”
Last July, the Supreme Court, voting 7-2, rejected the Trump’s broad claims of immunity from a state criminal subpoena seeking his tax returns and said that as president he was not entitled to any kind of heightened standard unavailable to ordinary citizens.
The justices sent the case back to the lower court so that he could make more targeted objections regarding the scope of the subpoena.
In October, a federal appeals court said “there is nothing to suggest that these are anything but run-of-the-mill documents typically relevant to a grand jury investigation into possible financial or corporate misconduct.”
Trump’s personal lawyers then took the case back to the Supreme Court, urging the justices to put the lower court ruling on hold while the justices considered whether to take up the appeal.
“The subpoena is geographically sprawling, temporally expansive, and topically unlimited – all attributes that raise suspicions of an unlawful fishing expedition,” William Consovoy wrote.
“Even if disclosure is confined to the grand jury and prosecutors,” he said “once the documents are surrendered” confidentially “will be lost for all time.”
The subpoenas span documents from January 2011 to August 2019, including his tax returns, from Mazars.
The documents relate to the Trump Organization’s employment of Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, and hush money payment Cohen allegedly made to two woman who claimed to have had extramarital affairs with Trump.
Vance has been bolstering his team while waiting for the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Mark Pomerantz, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan and a well-regarded defense lawyer and trial attorney with an expertise in financial institutions, was sworn into office earlier this month as a special assistant district attorney, Vance’s office said.
Trump’s legal and financial problems are still very serious
CNN asks “Just how much jeopardy – legally and financially – is Trump in over the next few years?” “And the answer is ‘a lot.”’
The broadcaster says whether Trump prevails in this specific case or not, he still faces an absolute legion of legal problems. Among them:
1. The New York attorney general’s office is looking into how the Trump organization valued its assets.
2. Defamation lawsuits from E. Jean Carroll and Summer Zervos.
3. A fraud lawsuit filed by Trump niece Mary Trump.
4. A possible charge of incitement by the DC attorney general for Trump’s role in the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.
5. Two investigations into Trump’s attempts to pressure Georgia elected officials to overturn the state’s election results.
(One piece of good legal news for Trump, lawsuits about his alleged violations of the emoluments clause while serving as president were dismissed by the Supreme Court last month because, well, Trump is no longer in office.)
All of those various legal entanglements – even if they all wind up going in Trump’s favor – will cost a whole lot of money. And, oddly for a billionaire, Trump is not in great financial shape at the moment – and there are more problems on that front looming on the horizon.
According to financial disclosure documents released in the hours after Trump left the White House last month, his eponymous company took a major revenue hit over the last year.
Overall, Trump’s businesses produced almost 40 per cent less revenue in 2020 versus 2019. He made $30 million less at his Doral property in Miami than he did in 2019.
Revenue at the Trump International Hotel in Washington and his Turnberry property in Scotland were down more than 60 per cent year over year.
Those revenue setbacks came even before Trump’s actions (and lack thereof) during the January 6 riots – a moment that led to his second impeachment by the House of Representatives and brought condemnation down on him from across the political and business worlds.
And Trump’s money situation was already, um not good. Consider what we know about his financial status via The New York Times reporting on his tax returns. As the Times’ David Leonhardt noted before the 2020 election:
“[Trump] appears to be responsible for loans totaling $421 million, most of which is coming due within four years.
“Should he win re-election, his lenders could be placed in the unprecedented position of weighing whether to foreclose on a sitting president.
“Whether he wins or loses, he will probably need to find new ways to use his brand – and his popularity among tens of millions of Americans – to make money.”
Made a fortune by using debt
Trump didn’t win reelection. Which means that any protections – or concessions – that financial institutions might be willing to extend to a sitting President no longer exist.
And out of the White House and with a brand badly damaged by his actions in the White House (culminating in his role in the January 6 riot) Trump’s earning power, particularly from new revenue streams, appears limited.
If past is prologue, Trump’s approach to this growing cloud of legal and financial troubles will be to sue and compromise his way out. This, from The New York Times about a Chicago skyscraper built by Trump that led to him to incur $287 million in unpaid debt by 2010, illustrates that point:
“When the project encountered problems, he tried to walk away from his huge debts. For most individuals or businesses, that would have been a recipe for ruin.
“But tax-return data, other records and interviews show that rather than warring with a notoriously litigious and headline-seeking client, lenders cut Mr. Trump slack – exactly what he seemed to have been counting on.”
Trump has regularly bragged about his prowess in this regard. “Does anyone know more about litigation than Trump?” Trump said of himself on the campaign trail in 2016. “I’m like a Ph.D. in litigation.”
That same year, Trump told CBS’ Norah O’Donnell this: “I’m the king of debt. I’m great with debt. Nobody knows debt better than me. I’ve made a fortune by using debt, and if things don’t work out I renegotiate the debt. I mean, that’s a smart thing, not a stupid thing.”
The question for Trump going forward is how much leverage he retains over the people he owes money to. And how much he will be to muddy the waters with a slew of legal filings.
Yes, those tactics worked in the past. But Trump’s situation – legally and financially – have gone downhill since he left the White House.
The real question then about Trump’s future is whether he can make it unscathed to 2024. And that is a very open question right now.
