President Trump’s tax returns can be turned over to state criminal investigators, a New York appeals court ruled Monday, finding that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. can subpoena the commander-in-chief’s financial records from his accounting firm.
The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is certain to be further appealed after lawyers for the president promised to do so and the three-judge appeals panel predicted it.
In the written decision, the judges said they only decided whether a state prosecutor can demand Trump’s personal financial records while the president is in office. The appeals court said it did not consider whether the president is immune from indictment and prosecution while in office or whether the president may be ordered to produce documents in a state criminal proceeding.
Vance’s office previously agreed to wait 10 days to enforce their subpoenas — which is seeking the Mazars USA documents as part of a grand jury probe — giving Trump and his lawyers time to bring the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trump previously sued Vance to block his office from enforcing their subpoenas for eight years of personal and corporate financial records, including tax returns.
Manhattan federal court judge Victor Marrero threw out the lawsuit in a decision that was quickly appealed by Trump’s lawyers to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
“With the benefit of the district court’s wellâ€?articulated opinion, we hold that any presidential immunity from state criminal process does not bar the enforcement of such a subpoena,” the three-judge panel wrote Monday. “Considering the foregoing, the President has neither demonstrated that he is likely to prevail on, nor raised sufficiently serious questions going to the merits of, his immunity claim, and so he is not entitled to preliminary injunctive relief.
“Our concern is heightened by the fact that the grand jury in this case is investigating not only the President, but also other persons and entities. Assuming, again without deciding, that the President cannot be prosecuted while he remains in office, it would nonetheless exact a heavy toll on our criminal justice system to prohibit a state from even investigating potential crimes committed by him for potential later prosecution, or by other persons, not protected by any immunity, simply because the proof of those alleged crimes involves the President,” their decision read.
The ruling comes less than two weeks after lawyers for each sides appeared before the 2nd Circuit to argue the case — and one of Trump’s lawyers said the president could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and avoid investigation until he left office.
Vance’s office declined to comment, and Trump’s lawyers did not immediately return a message.