Trump defends environmental record that critics call disastrous
President Trump delivered a full-throated defense of his administration’s environmental record Monday, despite relaxing nationwide limits on air and water pollution and reversing course on U.S. climate policy.
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With new law, Trump's state tax returns could go to Congress
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — President Donald Trump's New York state tax returns could be given to Congress under a new law in his home state that the Democratic governor signed Monday.
The measure signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo directs state tax officials to share state returns of certain elected and appointed officials upon written request from the chairpersons of one of three committees: House Ways and Means, Senate Finance or Joint Committee on Taxation.
Designed to give Congress a way around the Republican president's refusal to release his returns, the new law is expected to face legal challenges. And it's unclear whether Congress will request access to Trump's state returns, which tax experts say would include many of the same details as his federal return.
"No one person — no matter what office they might hold — is above the law," said Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan Democrat and the Senate sponsor of the legislation.
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Associated Press
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Why the Trump White House Is Caught Up in the Jeffrey Epstein Scandal
What is the connection to the Trump administration?
Mr. Acosta,
whom Mr. Trump nominated as labor secretary in 2017, has faced intense scrutiny for his role in Mr. Epstein’s deal to avoid prosecution, which has been widely criticized as shockingly lenient.
A series of investigative stories by The Herald last year revealed that Mr. Acosta was personally involved in the negotiations. He met privately with one of Mr. Epstein’s lawyers, who was also one of Mr. Acosta’s former colleagues.
In subsequent weeks, prosecutors from Mr. Acosta’s office gave Mr. Epstein’s lawyers an unusual amount of control over the terms of the plea deal, The Herald reported.
“Thank you for the commitment you made to me,’’ Mr. Epstein’s lawyer wrote in a letter to Mr. Acosta after their meeting, noting that Mr. Acosta had assured him that he would not contact “any of the identified individuals, potential witnesses or potential civil claimants,” The Herald reported.
Mr. Acosta’s office also agreed to help shield the deal from public scrutiny, according to The Herald. The case’s lead prosecutor, A. Marie Villafaña, wrote to Mr. Epstein’s lawyer at one point: “I can file the charge in district court in Miami which will hopefully cut the press coverage significantly. Do you want to check that out?”
During
Mr. Acosta’s Senate confirmation hearing, he defended the deal by noting that Mr. Epstein had been required to register as a sex offender. He
also said in 2011 that the plea deal’s results were “better” than risking a trial, which he said had “a reduced likelihood of success.”
The former White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said months ago that the administration was looking into the information about Mr. Acosta detailed by The Herald, although he has remained in his job.
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Congressional Democrats subpoena Trump organization
Congressional Democrats have issued subpoenas to the Trump Organization and other Trump businesses tied to a lawsuit accusing President Donald Trump of profiting from foreign governments in violation of the Constitution, but the Justice Department is now asking an appeals court to step in and block the move.
Democrats sent more than three-dozen subpoenas, demanding a response by July 29, seeking to collect evidence about the President's financial records, after a federal judge ruled last month that Democrats could proceed with the legal discovery process in their lawsuit.
But the Justice Department, defending Trump in his presidential capacity, has requested that an appeals court Monday overrule the lower court's decision and prevent the subpoenas from going forward. If the Democratic members of Congress collected evidence in the emoluments lawsuit, DOJ wrote, Trump "is likely to suffer irreparable injury" because of "intrusive discovery into his personal finances based on the public office he holds."
The escalating court fight represents a new front in Democrats' quest to obtain the President's financial records, a battle that's now playing out across multiple congressional committees and judicial jurisdictions.
The new subpoenas come from the Constitutional Accountability Center, which is representing a group of House and Senate Democrats led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler of New York, who are alleging Trump is violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution.
The judge overseeing the suit, Emmet Sullivan of the US District Court in Washington, gave the Democrats permission to subpoena the documents and take depositions beginning June 28.