Oct 3, 2019

DOJ asks judge to temporarily block NY Trump tax returns subpoena

Rebecca Falconer

Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Justice Department asked a federal judge Wednesday to temporarily block a subpoena from New York prosecutors seeking to obtain 8 years of President Trump's personal and corporate tax returns from his longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA.

Details: In a filing, obtained by Talking Points Memo, Justice Department special counsel Joshua Gardner argues such action would raise several "significant constitutional issues that potentially implicate important interests of the United States" and should be decided in a federal, not state, court.

Context: Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance's office had subpoenaed the tax returns for its investigation into hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. Trump filed a lawsuit last month seeking to prevent the action.

The big picture: The Justice Department said in June that it supported the Treasury Department's decision not to release Trump's tax returns to Congress. The New York case is among several Trump lawsuits designed to block the release of his tax returns.

  • On Tuesday, a judge in California temporarily blocked a new state law requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns in order to appear on primary ballots after Trump filed a lawsuit against the measure in August. State officials say they will appeal the ruling.
  • In July, Trump filed a lawsuit against House Democrats and the state of New York over a law that would permit tax officials to turn over his state tax returns.
  • In May, a federal judge in Manhattan declined a request by Trump, his family and his company to block Deutsche Bank from complying with a congressional subpoena for his financial records.

Read the court filing:

Go deeper:

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.

Go deeper

Axios

Appeals court grants Trump stay in legal fight over his tax returns

Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals granted President Trump an emergency stay Monday after the president lost a key court ruling over his tax returns, reports Bloomberg.

The state of play: A New York federal judge ruled earlier in the day that Manhattan's district attorney could subpoena 8 years of the president's personal and corporate tax returns from his longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA.

Go deeperArrowUpdated Oct 7, 2019
Axios

The fight for Trump's taxes

Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

A federal appeals court ruling Friday morning in House Democrats' favor was just one piece of a web of ongoing court and legislative battles to obtain President Trump's tax returns and financial records.

Why it matters: The case to subpoena President Trump's financial records from Mazars USA, his longtime accounting firm, is much farther along in the courts than most of the opposition's other efforts — and it might be Democrats' best chance to make them public.

Go deeperArrowOct 11, 2019
Zachary Basu

Deutsche Bank tells court that it does not have Trump's tax returns

Photo: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AFP/Getty Images

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a request from various media outlets to unseal two redacted names included in a Deutsche Bank letter responding to House subpoenas for President Trump and his family's tax returns.

"[T]he unredacted letter from Deutsche Bank has removed that potential issue from the appeal because that letter reports that the only tax returns it has for individuals or entities named in the subpoenas are not those of the President. In light of that response, information in the sealed letter, i.e., the identity of the two taxpayers whose tax returns Deutsche Bank has, is not relevant to any issue we need to decide."
Go deeperArrowOct 10, 2019