Professor Jed Shugerman was quoted in a BNN Bloomberg article about his take on the attempt by President Trump’s lawyers to block a subpoena for Trump’s tax records.
They’re trying to block the Manhattan District Attorney’s subpoena for Trump’s tax records. But while Trump could succeed in his challenge, legal experts said they don’t expect the judge to rule in a way that grants the sweeping degree of immunity from prosecutorial scrutiny that Trump is claiming for himself, his companies and the people around him.
“Trump’s lawyers are arguing that because he can’t be criminally charged, he can’t even be investigated,” said Jed Shugerman, a professor at Fordham University School of Law in New York. “The argument, to boil it down, is that a president is above the law.”
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. is probing whether the president’s company falsified business records related to hush-money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both women claim to have had sexual relationships with Trump.
Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, admitted to orchestrating hush payments to the women and released an audio recording in which he discusses a payment to McDougal with Trump. Cohen pleaded guilty last year to campaign-finance violations and is serving a three-year sentence.