OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A federal judge on Friday handed members of former President Donald Trump’s legal team a victory after shutting down a request from the Biden Justice Department.
The DOJ had sought to hold Trump and his legal team in contempt of court following a hearing on Friday, ABC News reported, instead advising the two parties to resolve their differences themselves.
The outlet noted further:
The DOJ had urged the judge to hold Trump’s team in contempt over failure to fully comply with a May subpoena for documents with classified markings that was directed to Trump’s custodian of records — a person the Trump legal team has not identified.
The proceedings were under seal and not public.
“The President and his counsel will continue to be transparent and cooperative, even in the face of the highly weaponized and corrupt witch-hunt from the Department of ‘Justice,'” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung noted in a statement, according to ABC News.
“If the Department of ‘Justice’ can go after President Trump, they will surely come after any American who they disagree with,” Cheung noted further. “President Trump is the only one who stands in the way of the un-American weaponization of law enforcement.”
Sources told the outlet that the contempt of court urging came after weeks of legal wrangling between the DOJ and Trump’s legal team regarding compliance with subpoenas issued by a grand jury.
Trump has become embroiled in a number of legal battles, especially over the course of this year.
Last month, for instance, he lost a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that Congress could obtain his tax records.
“The denial allows Trump’s tax returns to be released to the House Ways and Means Committee, which has been attempting for years to obtain them from the Internal Revenue Service as part of its investigation into the service’s presidential audit program. Tuesday’s order, which was unsigned and included no dissent, vacates a temporary hold Chief Justice John Roberts placed on the documents earlier this month,” Axios reported.
“Trump, who has been fighting for years to block the release of his tax returns, requested the high court weigh in after a federal appeals court also declined one of his requests to block the release of the documents. Lawyers for Trump have argued that the committee does not have a legitimate legislative purpose for the documents and seeks only to publish them. The Department of Justice under the Biden administration argued in a 2021 opinion that the committee’s request was legitimate and the Trump-era Treasury Department had no valid reason to refuse it,” the outlet added.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement on the decision: “The House looks forward to promptly receiving and reviewing these documents. These documents are vital to meeting the House’s Constitutional mandate: guarding the public interest, defending our national security, and holding our public officials to account. Congress must enact legislation requiring Presidents and candidates for President to disclose their tax returns.”
The legal problems come even as Trump has officially declared that he is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
“America’s comeback starts right now,” Trump said to a room full of supporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate last month. “Unlike other presidents, I kept my promises.”
“The world was at peace, America was prospering, and our country was on track for an amazing future— because I made big promises to the American People and, unlike other Presidents, I kept my promises,” he said. “Under our leadership, we were a great and glorious nation, something you haven’t heard for quite a long period of time. We were a strong nation, and importantly we were a free nation. Now, we are a nation in decline. We are a failing nation.”
Trump declared: “I am tonight again announcing my candidacy for President of the United States.”
BREAKING: President Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, announces his candidacy for re-election as president in 2024. pic.twitter.com/R7zBQmhLtk
— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) November 16, 2022
It’s not clear what impact Trump’s candidacy will have on various and ongoing federal probes, or vice versa, but he’s also been dealing with legal proceedings in his home state of New York and in Georgia, the latter stemming from the 2020 election.
US courts ruling in favor of justice department turns legal tide on Trump – The Guardian https://t.co/jtdOK8iyQd
— Curtis D. Hutcherson (@hautahbuhgee) December 6, 2022
