Federal Appeals Court Denies Trump Attempt to Block Tax Return Access
PAUL: Well, three federal judges have blocked the administration's rule to make it more difficult for immigrants who rely on public assistance to obtain legal status. That's one of many overnight happenings.</s>BLACKWELL: Yes and the D.C. Court of Appeals rejected the president's attempts to stop his accounting firm from turning over eight years of tax records to House democrats. Here's CNN's Ariane de Vogue.</s>ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They were big losses for the Trump Administration in courts on Friday. The first, a powerful appeals court based in D.C. ruled that President Trump's accounting firm had to turn over eight years of financial records to a House committee. That's a big defeat for the president who's been fighting on several fronts to keep his financial records out of the public eye. Now the ball's in the court of the president. He can appeal that decision to a larger panel of judges on the appeals court or go directly to the Supreme Court. And on issues related to immigration, three courts blocked the Trump Administration's so-called public charge rule. It was set to go into effect next week. Under the rule, immigrants who might rely on public assistance like food stamps would have a harder time obtaining legal status like a green card. Two of the judges issued a nationwide injunction blocking the rule across the country. Finally, on another immigration-related subject, a different federal judge in Texas held that the national emergency declaration that the president issued to build the border wall was unlawful. The ruling will block funding for now, but it's likely to be appealed. Several big losses on Friday for President Trump. Ariane de Vogue, CNN, Washington.</s>PAUL: Ariane, thank you so much. Now President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, is now under federal investigation. Prosecutors are looking into whether he violated any federal lobbying laws with his dealings in Ukraine. That probe is linked to the case against two of his associates that were arrested this week on campaign finance violations. CNN legal analyst and former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Elie Honig with us. Elie, good to see you this morning.</s>ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning Christi.</s>PAUL: First and foremost, do you see any indication or evidence of lobbying violations with Giuliani?</s>HONIG: Rudy Giuliani is in a lot of trouble on a lot of different fronts. First of all, one of the theories is that Rudy Giuliani by working here in the United States to further the interests of Ukraine, federal law requires that he be registered as a foreign lobbyist which he certainly was not. On the other hand, if he was working to further Donald Trump's interests with Ukraine he's got problems too because we know from the charge against those two other individuals that hundreds of thousands of dollars of foreign money were pouring in illegally disguised to influence our elections. So either way, Rudy Giuliani has got a legal problem.</s>PAUL: So let's listen to what the president said when he was asked last night if Giuliani is still his attorney.</s>TRUMP: Well, I don't know. I haven't spoken to Rudy. I spoke to him yesterday briefly. He's a very good attorney and he has been my attorney, yeah, sure.</s>PAUL: Yes, sure. It didn't seem wholly confident, but it does seem reminiscent of some moments behind us now where the president was really staunchly for somebody, suddenly wasn't, and they were suddenly gone. How shaky is the ground Giuliani stands on this morning?</s>HONIG: Very shaky. So first of all, Donald Trump should know if Rudy Giuliani or anybody else is his lawyer. That's up to him. It's up to the individual who your lawyer is but yes, we've seen this dance before Christi. This is the same machinations that the president went through with Michael Cohen. From support, he's a good person, to I'm not so sure what his status is. I don't really know him that well. I'm not even sure if he's my lawyer to in Michael Cohen's case, complete disavowal and calling him all of these names that I won't repeat. So we'll see if Rudy Giuliani goes that last step but Donald Trump I think can sense that some bad news is coming down the pike with Rudy Giuliani and I think he's trying to distance himself from it.</s>PAUL: All right. I want to real quickly get your reaction to your immigration status that came down last night in two different cases. The Texas federal judge that rules the president's national emergency declaration for the border is unlawful and the judges in New York and Texas and Washington state and Cali that sided against these initiatives to limit immigrants from entering the country. What is your reaction and how far is this going to go?</s>HONIG: Yes, I don't know if they keep records for this kind of thing but losing five court decisions in one day if you include the tax decision and the border wall funding plus the three immigration decisions is really remarkable. The immigration decisions, look, the key legal phrase here is arbitrary and capricious which is a legal way of saying these rules have no basis and just common sense, rational public policy and I think what we've seen here is the president, let's remember he made immigration one of the keystones of his political campaign and he's overstepped time and again, whether it's with the border wall or with these lack of protections for green cardholders for legal permanent residents. So I think the courts are really doing their part here in our system of checks and balances and telling the president you're going too far.</s>PAUL: Elie, I got to get this one in real quickly, the appeals court ruled that President Trump's accountants have to turn over his financial records to Congress. Is there a timeframe and how likely do you think Congress is going to see his tax records from the last eight years?</s>HONIG: Yes, so it depends on what next steps the administration takes. They can try to get it to the Supreme Court next. It will be up to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court does not have to take any case. They actually have to take a few cases. If the Supreme Court says we're not taking it, it's over and those returns go over. If the court does take it, it will be a few months for briefing and then however it comes out will determine whether those returns go over to Congress but we're now closer to ever to Congress actually having those reports in its hands.</s>PAUL: Closer than we've ever been is see. Elie Honig, we appreciate you being here so much, thank you.</s>HONIG: Thank you.</s>BLACKWELL: It was called the last great barrier. Now it's been broken. Coy Wire, this is amazing.</s>COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Incredible. Victor, Christi, good morning. The two-hour marathon has been this mythical status among runners; no man or woman ever crossing that line until today. More on the man and who made it happen and what he expects to come next, next on "New Day."</s>PAUL: First though we want to introduce you to one of our CNN Heroes. We all have our bucket lists, right? Well this week's CNN Hero is helping senior citizens embark on those exciting adventures. Take a look at this.</s>WEBB WEIMAN, CNN HERO: The reality of living in isolation is out there and it's real, and that's really one of the driving forces for us to keep going, for us to take those people out of isolation and make an example of them. I looked at it like much more than a hot air balloon ride. There is a sense of accomplishment, a story they get to take back to their community. It lifts their spirits.</s>PAUL: Ah, so sweet. For the full story, go to CNNHeroes.com. We'll be right back.