The Supreme Court on Monday denied Donald Trump’s bid to block the release of his tax returns to prosecutors in Manhattan, The New York Times reports.
The court issued a short unsigned order rejecting Trump’s appeal, marking the second time the court denied his attempts to shield his tax returns from an investigation into his business practices by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance.
The court last summer rejected Trump’s attorneys’ argument that sitting presidents are immune from any state prosecutions, ruling that no citizen is above “the common duty to produce evidence.”
The latest decision denied Trump’s emergency request to block Vance’s subpoena, putting an end to the 18-month legal battle.
Vance gets years of returns:
Vance will not have access to eight years of Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns and business documents that he subpoenaed from Trump’s accounting firm and banks.
“The work continues,” Vance said in a terse statement after the ruling.
Vance has brought in a former federal prosecutor and a consulting firm to aid with the expanding Trump probe.
The investigation initially began as a probe of hush money payments from Trump to women who alleged affairs with him but has since grown to include potential fraud.
Trump cries witch hunt:
Trump said in a lengthy statement that the investigation is a “continuation of the greatest political witch hunt in the history of country,” referring to the Mueller probe, which convicted about a half-dozen Trump associates for various federal offenses.
“So now, for more than two years, New York City has been looking at almost every transaction I've ever done, including seeking tax returns which were done by among the biggest and most prestigious law and accounting firms in the U.S,” he said. “The Tea Party was treated far better by the IRS than Donald Trump. The Supreme Court never should have let this "fishing expedition" happen, but they did. This is something which has never happened to a President before, it is all Democrat-inspired in a totally Democrat location, New York City and State, completely controlled and dominated by a heavily reported enemy of mine, Governor Andrew Cuomo.”
