Manhattan DA obtains Trump tax returns

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has obtained former President Trump’s tax returns.

A spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. (D) said Thursday that the office obtained the records on Monday.

The development comes after the Supreme Court on Monday rebuffed an effort from Trump’s lawyers to shield the documents.

CNN, which first reported on the new development, reported that prosecutors have obtained millions of pages of documents, including tax returns from January 2011 to August 2019, financial statements and documents concerning the preparation and review of the tax returns. 

The district attorney’s office obtained the documents from Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, which it had subpoenaed in 2019 as part of a grand jury investigation. 

The district attorney’s office started its investigation to examine payments made prior to the 2016 president election to silence two women who alleged they had affairs with Trump. Prosecutors have also said they are looking into potential financial crimes by the Trump Organization.

Trump sued to block the subpoena shortly after it was issued. The Supreme Court in July ruled against Trump’s argument that presidents have sweeping immunity from the criminal process, and sent the case back to the lower courts.

Trump then argued that the subpoena should be blocked because it’s too broad and was issued in bad faith, but he again lost in the lower courts. The Supreme Court’s order on Monday effectively declined to halt those lower court rulings.

The documents Vance’s office obtained are subject to grand jury secrecy rules, so they are unlikely to become public in the near future. The New York Times reported last fall, based on data it obtained, that Trump paid little to no federal income taxes in many recent years.

The Hill has reached out to representatives for Mazars USA.

John Kruzel contributed. Updated at 10:32 a.m.