Supreme Court rejects House Democrats bid for financial records
The Supreme Court blocks Congress from obtaining Trump’s tax records, sending the case to lower court; reaction and analysis from ‘Special Report’ all-star panel.
Former Education Secretary Bill Bennett argued on "Special Report" Thursday that the 2020 election will be decided by "things we already know about" rather than President Trump's tax returns.
The Supreme Court declined earlier Thursday to issue a definitive ruling on whether congressional committees can have access to Trump's financial records, throwing the issue back to the lower courts. In a separate case, the court ruled that Trump is not immune to a subpoena for his financial and tax records from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.
"Politically this will be a cipher," Bennett said. "This election will be decided by the things we know about -- the economy, the effects of COVID on things like the economy and school, the state of our cities, civil unrest, and, of course, the bottomless, irrational contempt of Democrats for Donald Trump, which is the main reason they are going to the polls."
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Bennett went on to argue that while the court's decision might not impact the November election, it could allow attorneys to tie up future presidents with legal challenges.
"It's not that the president can be subpoenaed," he said. "We've had that before, but you've got 2,300 of these district attorneys who could, in the present or in the future, go after presidents and tie them up and tie them up in knots. And I think that's a very strong argument that the administration has."
Susan Page of USA Today described Thursday's rulings was a short-term victory for the president that makes "the idea that his tax returns are going to be out there before voters go to the polls in November very unlikely.
"But over the long term, it's an assertion of the fact that the president does not have absolute immunity, that he is subject to criminal investigations. And that will be the case if he wins reelection in November. It will also be the case if he loses. So, over the long term, I think the president is going to see this investigation not go away and have to deal with it."
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President Trump blasted the decision, which was supported by two of his judicial nominees.
"The Supreme Court sends case back to Lower Court, arguments to continue," he wrote on Twitter. "This is all a political prosecution. I won the Mueller Witch Hunt, and others, and now I have to keep fighting in a politically corrupt New York. Not fair to this Presidency or Administration!"
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