But didn’t Trump release it himself before they did? Wouldn’t that mitigate against it being illegal?
I wondered about that, myself.
“But didn’t Trump release it himself before they did? Wouldn’t that mitigate against it being illegal?”
Why would that matter? It’s the act of releasing them that’s the crime, and Madcow and Co. made it clear that these pages were “leaked” to them.
Not the way i read the statute. Plus, Trump's spokesman didn't release a return.
But, the potential defendants do have a reasonable argument, and if charged, I would expect them to raise this defense.
But didn’t Trump release it himself before they did? Wouldn’t that mitigate against it being illegal?
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The White House released the information, but not a copy of any part of the return.
However, we have both criminal and possible civil action here.
Their publishing the 2 pages without Trump’s consent is a crime. It seems that the proper legal authority enforcing agent would have to bring those charges, not Trump’s legal team—although Trump has some influence about whether he wants to press charges or not.
Trump could also take civil action. That would require him to prove damages of some kind, and probably also expose him to discovery actions and requests from the defendants.
FR legal types need to weigh in on this. TIA.