Lawyer's Creed

When you have facts on your side, argue the facts.
When you have law on your side, argue the law.
When you have neither, pound the table.

   We see a lot of table-pounding these days, as supporters of the president ignore direct questions from journalists and keep talking even as the interviewer points out that the person has changed the subject, has not answered the question and has launched an attack on someone else who is not connected in any way to the issue under discussion.
   Meanwhile, a federal judge in New York has rejected a Trumpian appeal of a state subpoena that the president deliver income and tax records to state investigators.
   Defense lawyers claimed that the president is immune from investigation while he is in office.
   The judge said, in effect, go away. "No one is above the law," he wrote, ordering that the records be produced.
   Defense lawyers said they will appeal.
   But this is a state case, not federal. It has been Department of Justice policy not to investigate a sitting president while in office. That, however, is policy, not law, and refers to criminal offenses.
   President Bill Clinton was investigated while in office for a civil offense allegedly involving an extramarital affair and lying to Congress about it.
   And former Vice President Spiro Agnew was investigated while in office for offenses allegedly committed years earlier. As a consequence, Agnew resigned.
   So there are precedents justifying investigations of a president and a vice president while in office. The current investigation, however, involves state offenses, and the federal government typically has no jurisdiction over state cases.
   To claim that the president -- any president -- is immune from prosecution, civil or criminal, while in office is ludicrous. As the judge said, "No one is above the law."
   Supporters can pound the table all they want -- check that: No, they can't. Pounding the table and shouting down and attacking reporters simply for asking questions does not and cannot change the truth nor can it stop journalists from trying to determine truth.