Donald Trump has taken to Twitter to vent his frustration after US Supreme Court justices on Thursday ordered him to hand over his tax returns.
The United States’ highest court ruled that the documents be handed over to New York prosecutors as part of a probe into whether he paid hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels who alleged that she had a fling with Trump in 2006 a year after Trump’s wife had given birth to son, Baron.
The Supreme Court’s nine justices including two justices Trump himself appointed since becoming president – Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh voted 7-2 in favor of ordering Trump to hand over the documentation.
But the court also barred the US Congress from seeing the tx returns for its own purposes saying they should only be viewed as regards the Stormy Daniels case. The courts then sent their demand back to the lower courts.
Trump’s lawyers had claimed that he was immune from subpoenas (legal demands) to hand over his tax returns because he is President of the United States.
His lawyers also tried to claim that his position as president meant prosecutors should show a greater need than usual to get hold of the documents.
Trump has now responded, firing off a series of furious tweets in the wake of the verdict, claiming he is the victim of a campaign to remove him from office.
He wrote: ‘This is about PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT.
‘We catch the other side SPYING on my campaign, the biggest political crime and scandal in U.S. history, and NOTHING HAPPENS. But despite this, I have done more than any President in history in first 3 1/2 years!’
Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen was jailed in 2019 after paying off Daniels shortly before the November 2016 presidential election.
Cohen was convicted of fraud and tax evasion in August 2018, and was released from prison early in May this year amid concerns over the coronavirus crisis.
Daniels says the money was paid to her to stop her speaking about the alleged one night stand.
