Trump petitions Supreme Court to bar tax return release

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to bar his accounting firm from turning over eight years of his tax returns to Manhattan prosecutors.

The case, the first concerning Trump’s personal conduct and business dealings to reach the court, could yield a major ruling on the scope of presidential immunity from criminal investigations.

Last week, a unanimous threejudge panel of a federal appeals court in Manhattan ruled against Trump, rejecting his argument that he was absolutely immune from criminal investigation while he remains in office. The court said state prosecutors may require third parties to turn over a sitting president’s financial records for use in a grand jury investigation.

Trump has fought to shield his financial records, and prosecutors in Manhattan have agreed not to seek the tax returns until the case is resolved by the Supreme Court. In exchange, they insisted on a quick briefing schedule, one that would allow the Supreme Court to announce whether it will hear the case as soon as next month and to issue a decision by June.

On Wednesday, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit refused to rehear a ruling from a divided three-judge panel that Trump’s accounting firm must comply with the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s

demands for eight years of his financial records. A lawyer for Trump said he would appeal that ruling to the Supreme Court, too.

The prosecutors are looking into hush-money payments made to two women just before the 2016 presidential election.

Prosecutors say they need the documents to decide whether the payments violated state laws.