Court: Trump returns can be turned over
Appellate panel says subpoena of tax records can proceed
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s tax returns can be turned over to New York prosecutors by his personal accountant, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. But the ruling does not mean that Trump’s tax records will be turned over immediately.
Trump plans to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, said Jay Sekulow, counsel to the president.
“The decision of the Second Circuit will be taken to the Supreme Court,” Sekulow said in a statement. “The issue raised in this case goes to the heart of our Republic. The constitutional issues are significant.”
That appeal is due 10 days from the appeals court decision, per an agreement between prosecutors and the plaintiffs.
The decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upholds a lower court decision in the ongoing fight over Trump’s financial records. Trump has refused to release his tax returns since he was a presidential candidate, and is the only modern president who hasn’t made that information public.
In a written decision, three appeals judges said they only decided whether a state prosecutor can demand Trump’s personal financial records from a third party while the president is in office.
The appeals court said it did not consider whether the president is immune from indictment and prosecution while in office or whether the president himself may be ordered to produce documents in a state criminal proceeding.
“We hold that any presidential immunity from state criminal process does not bar the enforcement of such a subpoena,” 2nd Circuit Chief Judge Robert Katzmann wrote.
According to the decision, a subpoena seeking Trump’s private tax returns and financial information relating to businesses he owns as a private citizen “do not implicate, in any way, the performance of his official duties.”
“We are not faced, in this case, with the President’s arrest or imprisonment, or with an order compelling him to attend court at a particular time or place, or, indeed, with an order that compels the President himself to do anything,” the 2nd Circuit said. “The subpoena at issue is directed not to the President, but to his accountants; compliance does not require the President to do anything at all.”
Several weeks ago, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in Manhattan tossed out Trump’s lawsuit seeking to block his accountant from letting a grand jury see his tax records from 2011.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. sought the records in a broader probe that includes payments made to buy the silence of two women, porn star Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal, who claim they had affairs with the president before the 2016 presidential election. Trump has denied them.
Danny Frost, a spokesman for Vance, declined to comment.
The lawyer who argued the case on Trump’s behalf before the appeals court did not respond to a message seeking comment.
One of Trump’s private attorneys, William Consovoy, had argued in the case that Trump enjoys “temporary presidential immunity” from investigations or prosecution while president, immunity that he argued would extend even if the president were to shoot someone.
The case is one of several legal clashes testing the limits of presidential power that is expected to reach the Supreme Court as soon as this term. Monday’s decision marked the second time in recent weeks that a federal appeals court has ruled against the president in his bid to stop investigators from scrutinizing his private financial records.
Prosecutors agreed to delay enforcement of the subpoena to Trump’s longtime accounting firm if the president’s lawyers move quickly to ask the Supreme Court to intervene.
Vance’s attorneys have argued that Trump is not above the law while the president’s lawyers have said the Constitution prohibits states from subjecting the president to criminal process while he is in office.
In the subpoena to Trump’s longtime accountant, Vance’s lawyers call for financial and tax records of entities and individuals, including Trump, who engaged in business transactions in Manhattan.
The 2nd Circuit noted that Trump has not been charged with a crime, but his lawyers have acknowledged that he could be criminally prosecuted after he leaves office.
“Even assuming, without deciding, that a formal criminal charge against the President carries a stigma too great for the Constitution to tolerate, we cannot conclude that mere investigation is so debilitating,” the appeals court said.