Newsweek - USA (2020-01-03)

34 NEWSWEEK.COM

sented. “The legislative subpoenas here are deeply

troubling,” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Debra Ann Liv-

ingston, a George W. Bush appointee. She expressed

concern that “ill-conceived” congressional inquiries

could lead to “ruthless exposure of private lives” and

fuel perceptions that legislative committees were “en-

gaged, not in legislating, but in opposition research.”

Accordingly, Livingston would have sent the case

back to the lower courts and required the commit-

tees to show much more specific need for each cat-

egory of document sought.

Hush

the third case before the court presents

different issues still. It involves a state grand jury

subpoena rather than a congressional subpoena.

This subpoena, issued in late August and also

directed to Mazars, stems from a criminal inqui-

ry opened by Cyrus Vance Jr., the district attorney

for New York County. Vance’s inquiry reportedly

revolves around the “hush money” payments made

on Trump’s behalf to Daniels and a second woman,

former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who has

also said she had an affair with Trump. (Trump has

denied that affair too.)

In his suit to block Vance’s grand jury subpoena,

Trump claims that he is absolutely immune from

all stages of criminal process while in office, includ-

ing pre-indictment investigation. During oral argu-

ment before an appeals court in October, the pres-

ident’s lawyer stunned observers by arguing that

if Trump shot someone on Fifth Avenue while in

office, local authorities would be powerless to act.

Though everyone acknowledges that Trump

probably cannot be indicted while in office,

Trump’s sweeping claim to pre-indictment im-

munity is contrary to Supreme Court precedent,

according to the unanimous ruling written in

LEGAL SCRUM

Opposite page,

clockwise top left: Elijah

Cummings; Neomi

Rao, Cyrus Vance Jr.

and Maxine Waters.

Above: protest-ready

in Manhattan. &

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