[NFA] Donald Trump cannot block a prosecutor's subpoena for eight years of his tax returns, a federal judge ruled on Thursday, in the latest setback in the U.S. president's longstanding effort to keep his finances under wraps.
This report produced by Jillian Kitchener.
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EXISTING GRAPHICS MAY BE OVERWRITTEN BY CLIENT’S OWN GRAPHICS BUT NO FURTHER EDITS ARE PERMITTED, INCLUDING FOR LENGTH**~ U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to block enforcement of a grand jury subpoena for eight years of his tax records was derailed on Thursday - when a federal judge ruled against the president’s effort.
The judge rejected Trump’s claims that the grand jury subpoena was "wildly overbroad" and issued in bad faith.
In a 103-page decision, the judge also said letting Trump block the subpoena from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance to the president's accounting firm would amount to an "undue expansion" of presidential immunity.
Trump quickly appealed the decision, filed an emergency motion to delay turning over his tax returns… and said he’d take it all the way to the Supreme Court if needed.
“Well the Supreme Court said if it’s a fishing expedition, you don’t have to do it.
And it’s a fishing expedition.
But more importantly this is a continuation of the Witch Hunt.
The greatest Witch Hunt in history.
There’s never been anything like it… So we’ll probably end up back in the Supreme Court.” In a court filing this month, Manhattan District Attorney Vance suggested the subpoena was related to quote: ”possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization," which Vance said included alleged insurance and bank fraud.
Vance's probe began after reports that Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen paid porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to buy her silence before the 2016 election about claimed sexual encounters with Trump, which he has denied.
The litigation and grand jury secrecy rules make it unlikely Trump's financial records will become public before November’s presidential election.
Lawyers for President Donald Trump are scrambling to figure out how to prevent the financial records of their client from being..
