Trump claims his crimes can't be investigated because he's a sitting President, experts call BS

The battle for United States President Donald Trump's tax returns to be made public continues to rage on. As a last-ditch effort to protect them from the public eye, his lawyers have attempted to argue that the confidential documents cannot be made available as it is apparently illegal to investigate a sitting President for any crimes he may have committed in the past, Vanity Fair reports. Of course, legal experts and Trump's opposition were quick to check his legal team's facts, and, to literally no one's surprise, prove them wrong. Not only is this argument weak and legally implausible, but it also seems like the President has something fishy that he wants to cover up.

The claim comes in the form of a lawsuit after Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. recently subpoenaed eight years of the former businessman's tax returns in order to find out if the Trump Organization falsified business documents in relation to payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. In response to the District Attorney, the President's lawyers asserted in their lawsuit, "The framers of our Constitution understood that state and local prosecutors would be tempted to criminally investigate the president to advance their own careers and to advance their political agendas. And they likewise understood that having to defend against these actions would distract the president from his constitutional duties."

Actual legal experts, you know, those who actually understand how United States law works, are not very convinced by this argument. Harry Sandick, a former federal prosecutor, said in an interview with Bloomberg, "Even assuming that the president cannot be indicted while in office, it does not follow that his business and associates are likewise immune from investigation. The complaint makes light of the idea that ruling in their favor would elevate the president above the law, but it certainly seems as if the president views himself as above the law."

Responding with a lawsuit is especially strange as every sitting United States President and Vice President since the early 1970s has undergone financial investigation. The Internal Revenue Service has, for five decades now, conducted regular audits of their personal tax returns in order to maintain transparency and the integrity of American democracy. Why Trump, his administration, and his legal team believe they are above the law seems a mystery to all those watching from the outside. All said and done, something smells fishy.