NEW YORK - A federal judge on Monday said
U.S. President Donald Trump must hand over eight years of tax
returns to Manhattan prosecutors, forcefully rejecting the
president's argument that he was immune from criminal
investigations.
The decision by, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in
Manhattan, further complicates Trump's battle to keep his
finances under wraps, despite having promised during his 2016
White House run that he would disclose his tax returns.
Trump's immunity claim was "repugnant to the nation's
governmental structure and constitutional values," Marrero
wrote. "The court cannot square a vision of presidential
immunity that would place the President above the law."
The president quickly appealed the decision to the federal
appeals court in Manhattan, which in a brief order temporarily
halted enforcement of the subpoena by Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan
district attorney.
Vance, a Democrat, had subpoenaed personal and corporate tax
returns from 2011 to 2018 and other records from Trump's
longtime accounting firm Mazars USA, as part of a criminal probe
into the president and his family business.
"The Radical Left Democrats have failed on all fronts, so
now they are pushing local New York City and State Democrat
prosecutors to go get President Trump," Trump, a Republican,
tweeted after Marrero's decision.
"A thing like this has never
happened to any President before. Not even close!"
The Radical Left Democrats have failed on all fronts, so now they are pushing local New York City and State Democrat prosecutors to go get President Trump. A thing like this has never happened to any President before. Not even close!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2019
Trump's lawyers had argued that the president was immune
from such a probe while in office and that the Constitution
required Vance to wait until after Trump left the White House.
The president is separately trying to block Deutsche Bank AG
from handing over financial records, which the bank
has said include tax returns, sought by multiple U.S. House of
Representatives committees.
Lawyers for Trump did not immediately respond to requests
for comment. Danny Frost, a spokesman for Vance, declined to
comment. Mazars did not immediately respond to requests for
comment but has said it would comply with its legal obligations.
'OVERREACH OF EXECUTIVE POWER'
In his 75-page decision, Marrero, who was appointed by
Democratic President Bill Clinton, declined to assert
jurisdiction over the Vance subpoena, saying Trump should have
brought his case in a New York state court.
But the judge made clear that if the appeals court disagreed
with that finding, Trump should lose, having failed to show that
enforcing the subpoena would cause him irreparable harm or that
the public interest supported an injunction.
"The expansive notion of constitutional immunity invoked
here to shield the President from judicial process would
constitute an overreach of executive power," Marrero wrote.
Marrero said there instead needed to be a balance between
the president's need to perform his constitutional duties and
the courts' legitimate interest in ensuring justice.
He said even President Richard Nixon had conceded during the
Watergate scandal that he would be required to produce documents
in response to a judicial subpoena.
Vance issued the subpoena four weeks after issuing another
subpoena to the Trump Organization for records of hush money
payments, including to two women prior to the 2016 election who
said they had sexual relationships with Trump, which he denies.
The appeals court that will consider Trump's appeal in the
Vance case heard oral arguments in the Deutsche Bank case on
Aug. 23. It has yet to rule.
Trump is running for re-election. His current term ends on
January 20, 2021.