美国司法部周一向最高法院提交了一份新的案情摘要，支持总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)寻求阻止纽约检察官获得他的纳税申报单的主张。国务院为免除繁琐司法程序的宽泛概念进行了辩护，指出总统可以通过其他方式被追究责任，如弹劾、媒体审查以及他保持正面声誉的愿望。
在注意到司法部此前确定的适用于总统的广泛的逮捕和起诉豁免后，该文件指出“总统不当行为的广泛的‘替代性补救和威慑’不属于严格的司法行动范围”。
曼哈顿地方检察官塞鲁斯·万斯正在通过总统的会计公司马扎斯美国公司寻求特朗普的个人纳税申报单，作为对潜在违反纽约州记录保存法的州刑事调查的一部分。
特朗普此前曾要求联邦法官阻止传票的执行。11月，上诉法院维持初审法院的判决，对万斯有利。最高法院随后同意审理此案。
尽管司法部挑出了几个可能限制总统实施潜在非法行为的法外问责方法，但特朗普在总统任期内明显试图诋毁其中几个方法。
例如，来自新闻媒体的审查经常被总统斥为“虚假新闻”，这给白宫提供了一个避免负面新闻的机会，而不必参与是非曲直的讨论。哥伦比亚广播公司资深新闻记者莱斯利·斯塔尔在2018年5月的一次采访中证实了对总统与媒体关系的理解。
“我说，‘你知道那很累。你为什么要这么做？你一遍又一遍地做，这很无聊，”斯塔尔说叙述在2016年大选前几个月告诉特朗普。“他说，‘你知道我为什么这么做吗？我这样做是为了诋毁你们所有人，贬低你们所有人，所以当你写关于我的负面故事时，没有人会相信你。"
当时，白宫没有回应多家新闻机构关于斯塔尔言论的置评请求。
总统和他的律师也试图将弹劾作为一种问责形式最小化，至少在民主党领导的众议院试图弹劾特朗普与乌克兰的交易时是如此。
尽管他时而试图收回自己的言论，时而痛斥记者对其的曲解，但总统的弹劾顾问艾伦·德肖维兹(Alan Dershowitz)认为，当特朗普“做了他认为有助于他当选的事，符合公众利益”时，他就不能被弹劾
特朗普本人声称，美国宪法规定的众议院弹劾程序是违宪的，“甚至不应该被允许进行。”
密歇根州沃伦——1月30日:2020年1月30日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在密歇根州沃伦市参观汽车制造供应商达纳公司时发表讲话。特朗普在演讲中吹捧了该州良好的就业数据和汽车公司的强劲表现。
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ARGUES FOR PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY, SAYS MEDIA AND IMPEACHMENT CAN HOLD TRUMP ACCOUNTABLE
Siding with President Donald Trump in his quest to prevent New York prosecutors from obtaining his tax return, the Justice Department filed a new brief with the Supreme Court on Monday arguing in favor of presidential immunity. The department defended the broad notion of immunity from cumbersome judicial proceedings by noting that the president can be held accountable in other ways, such as through impeachment, scrutiny from the press, and his desire to maintain a positive reputation.
After noting the broad scope of immunity the Justice Department has previously determined applies to the president on questions of arrest and indictment, the filing observes "a wide range of 'alternative remedies and deterrents' to presidential wrongdoing" that fall outside strict judicial action.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance is seeking Trump's personal tax returns by way of the president's accounting firm, Mazars USA, as part of a state criminal investigation into potential violations of New York record-keeping laws.
Trump had previously requested that a federal judge block the enforcement of the subpoena. An appeals court in November upheld the trial court's decision in Vance's favor. The Supreme Court subsequently agreed to hear the case.
While the Justice Department singled out several extrajudicial methods of accountability that may constrain the president from committing potentially unlawful acts, Trump has notably tried to discredit several of them during the course of his presidency.
For example, Scrutiny from the news media is often dismissed by the president as "fake news," affording the White House an opportunity to avoid bad press without having to engage on the merits. Veteran CBS News correspondent Lesley Stahl corroborated this understanding of the president's relationship with the press in an interview in May 2018.
"I said, 'You know that is getting tired. Why are you doing this? You're doing it over and over, and it's boring,'" Stahl recounted telling Trump months before the 2016 election. "He said, 'You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.'"
The White House did not respond to requests for comment at the time from multiple news agencies about Stahl's remarks.
The president and his attorneys have also tried to minimize impeachment as a form of accountability, at least as it concerns the efforts by the Democrat-led House of Representatives to impeach Trump over his dealings with Ukraine.
Though he has alternately tried to walk back his remarks and lambasted reporters for misinterpreting them, Alan Dershowitz, the president's impeachment counsel, argued that Trump cannot be impeached when he "does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest."
Trump himself has claimed that the House's impeachment proceedings, provided for in the U.S. Constitution, are unconstitutional and "should not even be allowed to proceed."
WARREN, MI - JANUARY 30: President Donald Trump speaks during a visit to Dana Incorporated, an auto-manufacturing supplier, on January 30, 2020 in Warren, Michigan. During his speech Trump touted good job numbers and the strong performance of car companies in the state.
