House GOPers Paint SCOTUS Ruling On Trump Tax Returns As ‘Political’

House Republicans on Thursday morning were quick to conclude that the Supreme Court’s ruling — which upholds Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s criminal subpoena for President Trump tax returns — was a “political” hit job.

On Thursday morning, the Supreme Court ruled in a striking 7-2 decision to back the subpoena issued by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for the President’s financial records as part of a wide-ranging investigation into the Trump organization.

However, in a separate 7-2 ruling also issued Thursday morning, the Supreme Court punted on the House’s subpoena for similar records.

During a press conference shortly after the Supreme Court issued its ruling, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said that although he had yet to see the ruling, he stands by the President because, he claimed, Trump has been transparent in his financial disclosures.

“I’ve watched President Trump abide by all the requests that someone has for financial disclosure, which are much more thorough than any tax returns,” McCarthy said.

As TPM reported Thursday morning, Trump has not yet filed his financial disclosures this year and was just granted a second 45-day extension to produce those documents.

McCarthy then railed against the Supreme Court’s ruling by characterizing it as “political.”

“It seems to me the New York district attorney and others that have tried for it — it seems much more political than anything else,” McCarthy said. “I think this decision has already been made by the President releasing all of his financial disclosures when he ran for President the first time.”

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), a ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, expressed a similar reaction to the Supreme Court ruling in a statement Thursday morning, accusing Democrats of “attacking” Trump for “political gain.”

“Today’s decisions by the Supreme Court sadly will not end the Democrats’ partisan obsession,” Jordan said in his statement. “Americans around the country deserve better than Democrats’ never-ending political games.”

McCarthy and Jordan’s reactions came as Trump posted a barely coherent Twitter screed within minutes of the Supreme Court issuing its decision on his financial records. In tweets, the President griped that he will “have to keep fighting in a politically corrupt New York” due to the ruling and claimed that “courts in the past have given ‘broad deference.’ BUT NOT ME!”

Trump attorney Jay Sekulow suggested in a Thursday morning tweet that Trump’s legal team may attempt to stop the subpoena from going forward.

We are pleased that in the decisions issued today, the Supreme Court has temporarily blocked both Congress and New York prosecutors from obtaining the President’s financial records. We will now proceed to raise additional Constitutional and legal issues in the lower courts.

— Jay Sekulow (@JaySekulow) July 9, 2020