Judge rules Donald Trump must hand over eight years of tax returns

US President Donald Trump
EPA
Tim Baker7 October 2019

Donald Trump has been dragged a step closer to handing over eight years of tax returns after a judge ruled he could not hide behind presidential immunity.

Lawyers for the US President immediately appealed the decision to the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeal in New York.

A decision made there could be appealed to the Supreme Court in a case that stems back to the allegations Mr Trump paid Stormy Daniels to stay quiet about their alleged affair.

US District Judge Victor Marrero said on Monday that the president's broad claim of immunity from all criminal investigations is at odds with the constitution.

It comes as the President faces increased pressure over impeachment proceedings.

Mr Trump later tweeted that the court case was unprecedented.

"The Radical Left Democrats have failed on all fronts," Mr Trump wrote, "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!"

Judge Marrero said that Mr Trump’s attempt to block a subpoena for the tax documents could not be sanctioned.

The judge said in his ruling that he could not grant such a "categorical and limitless assertion of presidential immunity".

"As the court reads it, presidential immunity would stretch to cover every phase of criminal proceedings, including investigations, grand jury proceedings and subpoenas, indictment, prosecution, arrest, trial, conviction, and incarceration," Judge Marrero wrote.

"That constitutional protection presumably would encompass any conduct, at any time, in any forum, whether federal or state, and whether the president acted alone or in concert with other individuals."

The judge said he could not accept that legal view, "especially in the light of the fundamental concerns over excessive arrogation of power that animated the constitution's delicate structure and its calibrated balance of authority among the three branches of the national government, as well as between the federal and state authorities".

Justice Department lawyers in Washington, who had urged Judge Marrero to delay deciding the issue, declined to comment.

Because an appeal has been launched straight away, the documents are unlikely to be released.

Manhattan district attorney Cyrus R Vance Jr, a Democrat, asked Mr Trump's accounting firm to turn over his business and personal tax returns as part of an investigation of the Trump Organisation's alleged involvement in buying the silence of two women who claimed to have had affairs with the president.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.
AP

Mr Trump's lawyers have said the investigation is politically motivated and the request for his tax records should be stopped because he is immune from any criminal probe as long as he is president.

Mr Vance began his probe after federal prosecutors in Manhattan completed their investigation into payments that Mr Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, arranged to be paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal to keep them silent during the presidential race.

The Trump Organisation later reimbursed Cohen.

Cohen is serving a three-year prison sentence for crimes that included campaign finance violations.

The tax claims are important to the Stormy Daniels allegations against Mr Trump, over which Mr Cohen (pictured) has been jailed 
Getty Images

Mr Trump was never charged, though prosecutors claimed that he was aware of and directed the payments.

Justice Department policy has long been that sitting presidents cannot be charged criminally.

Grand jury proceedings and records in New York are secret.

If Mr Vance gains access to Mr Trump's returns through a grand jury investigation, that does not mean that their contents would be disclosed publicly.

It is unclear what Mr Trump's returns might have to do with the criminal investigation.

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