Trump’s tax records in hands of New York prosecutors
New York prosecutors now have former President Donald Trump’s tax records after a protracted court battle, representing an expected boost to a wideranging investigation into Trump’s finances and the operations of the Trump Organization.
A spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance confirmed Thursday that the records were obtained Monday, when the Supreme Court refused Trump’s request to block a subpoena for the records.
Vance spokesman Danny Frost declined to comment further.
Vance sought several years of Trump’s tax returns and financial documents as part of an investigation into alleged hush money payments made during the 2016 presidential race in addition to a broader review of possible criminal activity at the Trump Organization.
Trump’s attorneys had asked the high court to intervene in the case after losing the legal battles in lower courts. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled in early October that Trump’s accountant, Mazars USA, must comply with the subpoena, rejecting Trump’s claims that it was too broad and was issued in bad faith to harass him.
The former president has cast the Manhattan prosecutors’ inquiry as a “witch hunt” and has fought for years to to keep his tax returns under wraps.
“The Supreme Court never should have let this ‘fishing expedition’ happen, but they did,” Trump said in a statement after the court’s action. “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.”
Even though prosecutors have the records, the documents still may not become public because of the secrecy of grand jury proceedings.
The Manhattan investigation is one of several inquiries confronting Trump.