"BOOM!" goes the dynamite

Statement from the NY State Taxation authority, regarding this blockbuster NYT story: "The Tax Department is reviewing the allegations in the NYT article and is vigorously pursuing all appropriate avenues of investigation." https://t.co/rACzwJPPx0

— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) October 2, 2018

It doesn't even have to be the IRS, does it?

The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

Article II, Sec. 4, of the U.S. Constitution.  Interestingly, it doesn't say treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors has to occur while the President is in office.

Yes, the criminal statutes have run.  But tax fraud is certainly a "high crime" of which the President could be impeached in the House, and convicted in the Senate.  Because the worst representative of the U.S. government, which has to enforce its tax laws in order to exist, is to have a President who is a tax cheat, and has been for years.  Even if all the IRS can do now is impose civil fines, how do we tolerate a President who is fighting in civil court, refusing to pay the fines the government he leads is imposing on him under the laws of the land?

And you've gotta love the defense being offered:

Trump lawyer Charles Harder told the Times: “President Trump had virtually no involvement whatsoever with these matters.”

Harder added: “The affairs were handled by other Trump family members who were not experts themselves and therefore relied entirely upon the aforementioned licensed professionals to ensure full compliance with the law.”

Yeah, that dog won't hunt:

The newspaper said the report was based on interviews with Fred Trump’s former employees and advisers and more than 100,000 pages of documents describing the inner workings of his business empire.

“The investigation also draws on tens of thousands of pages of confidential records — bank statements, financial audits, accounting ledgers, cash disbursement reports, invoices and canceled checks,” the Times said.

None of which Donald had anything to do with in his 50's, right?  As Deep Throat said:  "Follow the money."  And just to drop in an historical reminder from Mr. John Dean:

“This came up in the Nixon years, and it became actually a part of his impeachment proceedings where they considered an article of impeachment for him cheating on his taxes,” Dean said. “The public got it. They got tax fraud. They didn’t understand all the nuances of obstruction of justice but the man on the street understood not paying taxes.”

He added, “Let me put another historical spin on this for you. Nixon’s most famous denial was, ‘I’m not a crook,’ and that related directly to his tax returns.”

History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme.

So we're upset about a liar in hearings to sit on the Supreme Court, but we will give this a pass because it happened before he took office?  What if it is still happening, and how do we know it isn't?

And in the last analysis:  are we a government of laws, or of men?