Where the investigations related to President Donald Trump stand and what may lie ahead for him:
WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW?
The White House continues to push back against a Democratic request for the IRS to provide six years of Trump’s personal tax returns and the returns for some of his businesses. The returns were officially requested Wednesday by Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal, who heads the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.
An attorney representing Trump argued Friday that a request for the president’s tax returns “would set a dangerous precedent” if granted and that the IRS cannot legally divulge the information.
William Consovoy, whose firm was retained by Trump to represent him on the matter, said in a letter to the Treasury Department’s general counsel that requests for tax returns “must have a legitimate legislative purpose.” He said Neal’s request for Trump’s tax information is intended to damage the president politically.
Asked Thursday for his response to Neal’s demand, Trump didn’t provide a direct answer.
“They’ll speak to my lawyers; they’ll speak to the attorney general,” Trump said at the White House.
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DID THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN COLLUDE WITH RUSSIA?
According to special counsel Robert Mueller, the answer is no.
In his letter dated March 24, Attorney General William Barr quotes from Mueller’s report saying the investigation “did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
The letter does not detail what Mueller learned about a broad range of Trump associates who had Russia-related contacts during the 2016 presidential campaign and transition period. It also doesn’t answer why several of those people lied to federal investigators or Congress during the Russia probe.
Barr is confronting concerns that his four-page letter unduly sanitized the full report in Trump’s favor, including on the key question of whether the president obstructed justice. House Democrats have approved subpoenas for Mueller’s entire report and any exhibits and other underlying evidence that the Justice Department might withhold.
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IS TRUMP OUT OF THE WOODS?
No.
Trump also plays a central role in a separate case in New York, where prosecutors have implicated him in a crime. They say Trump directed his personal lawyer Michael Cohen to make illegal hush-money payments to two women as a way to quash potential sex scandals during the campaign. New York prosecutors also are looking into Trump’s inaugural fund.
Congressional investigations also are swirling around the president. Democrats have launched a sweeping probe of Trump, an aggressive investigation that threatens to shadow the president through the 2020 election season.
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For more in-depth information, follow AP coverage at https://apnews.com/TrumpInvestigations
