Justice Department defends Trump financial disclosure

[DonViejo]

Source: Politico



By JOSH GERSTEIN 06/03/2017 07:37 AM EDT

The Justice Department is defending President Donald Trump's personal financial disclosure by arguing that the rules for such forms are so ambiguous that a lawsuit challenging the disclosure must be thrown out.

The unusual argument came in response to a suit filed in March arguing that the financial disclosure Trump filed as a candidate last year was incomplete because it failed to indicate which of hundreds of millions of dollars-worth of outstanding loans Trump is actually personally liable for. Instead, Trump's form appears to blend his personal debts with those of businesses he has interests in, effectively obscuring which creditors may have the greatest leverage over him.

All Trump's debts are covered on a single page of his 104-page disclosure. According to the report, the listed loans exceed $300 million in total. The total amount of the loans is known to be much larger based on other data, but the disclosure form does not require details above $50 million for each loan that exceeds that amount.

In a filing this week in federal court in Washington, Justice Department lawyers argue that Trump had no legal duty to be more specific about which debts are his and which are his companies'.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2017/06/03/trump-financial-disclosure-justice-department-defends-239091

[bucolic_frolic]

1. The Justice Department has sworn an oath of loyalty

Why are they defending this rather than his personal lawyer?

[gademocrat7]

2. A very good question.

[cstanleytech]

5. I think it might be because they typically defend a sitting president

in a number of cases.

[bitterross]

8. My First Thought Too!

Why the fuck are they acting as his personal attorney? It should, at the least, be White House Counsel - not the Justice Department.

Of course the answer IS obvious - Jeff Sessions.

[cstanleytech]

10. They aren't they are acting as the attorneys representing the head of

the government which legally Trump is.

[bucolic_frolic]

11. Trump filed this financial disclosure while a candidate and a private citizen

Taxpayers are paying JD employees to defend his actions as a private citizen

and against the notion of disclosing tax returns which most citizens support

I'm no lawyer, but we are defending a private citizen's actions here.

[cstanleytech]

13. Thats immaterial as he is the current head of the country thus the DoJ will tend to

represent him in almost all matters.

[Crash2Parties]

15. So he really is like a Shakespearean King, then.

I thought that was just his own narcissistic interpretation, equating himself with 'America'.

[cstanleytech]

16. No, a king is on office for life Trump will hopefully be out of office

by or before 2020.

[Crash2Parties]

17. Maybe you missed that GOP plan to rework the Constitution?

And no, I'm not kidding. They're talking about holding The Convention. If they do, pretty much anything could happen. Especially if they game the next two elections the way they did 2016 and gain enough to ratify.

[cstanleytech]

18. I'm sure some would love to try do something like that but the odds of them succeeding are slimmer

than Donald waking up in the whitehouse tomorrow as a decent human being.

[turbinetree]

3. I guess when I file my taxes I can be really vague and see how far that gets me...................

..............................why not.

And besides this "money" that he wants to blend could come from the mafia here in this country and Russia, whats a little dirty illegally gotten money among friends ................

[DK504]

4. I see this and think aiding and abetting. Jeff Sessions I'm talking to you.

[bitterross]

9. Right! Pretty much the inverse of Sally Yates.

Yates was an AG with morals and ethics. We all knew Sessions had none and now he's proving it.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. "Trump had no legal duty to be more specific about which debts are his..."

For the Treasury Department (IRS) he does.

We need tax returns!

[Historic NY]

7. Pretty good having the taxpayer pay to defend his tax returns or lack of...

before he was even elected. Up is down, down is up, were all on the merry-go-round.

[deurbano]

12. I wish the headline writer had specified "Trump's Justice Department..."

[mpcamb]

14. Right. Exactly who signed off on Trump's financial disclosures??