The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the Manhattan district attorney may access President Donald Trump’s financial and tax records, but the court turned back a similar effort by House Democrats.
The Supreme Court considered two sets of cases: a subpoena from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and subpoenas from three House of Representatives committees to Trump’s banks and his accounting firm. Vance’s subpoena sought eight years’ worth of Trump’s business and personal tax records.
In the Vance case, Trump’s lawyers have said he is immune from criminal investigation while in office. His lawyers have called the subpoenas from House Democrats “unprecedented,” though justices have disputed that, invoking prior Supreme Court losses by Presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton when they sought to withhold information.
Trump has refused to release his tax returns ever since he was a presidential candidate. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, meanwhile, has released his.
See:Biden lowered his taxes in a way that Obama tried to prevent
House committees have sought records from Deutsche Bank DB, -2.75% and Capital One COF, -5.73%, as well as the Mazars USA accounting firm. Mazars also is the recipient of a subpoena from Vance. The committees subpoenaed the bank documents as part of their investigations into Trump and his businesses.
Vance and the House Oversight and Reform Committee sought records from Mazars concerning Trump and his businesses based on payments that Trump’s then–personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, arranged during the 2016 presidential race to keep two women from airing their claims of extramarital affairs with Trump.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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