Manhattan DA holds off on enforcing subpoena on Trump's tax returns
WASHINGTON – The Manhattan district attorney has agreed to hold off on enforcing a grand jury subpoena for President Donald Trump's tax returns while an appeals court hears the case.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance is investigating hush money payments made during the 2016 presidential race to two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump, but has suggested the probe also involves the Trump Organization.
The decision to postpone the subpoena allows for further litigation to take shape in the appeals court, where the president's attorneys have asked judges to block a lower court's ruling requiring the disclosure of his tax returns.
Vance's decision comes days after U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero rejected Trump's efforts to keep his tax returns from Manhattan prosecutors, another blow to the president who has unsuccessfully fought the subpoena all the way to the Supreme Court.
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Trump's attorneys asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to immediately block Marrero's decision pending an appeal, saying disclosure of the president's financial records poses "irreparable harm."
On Friday, the appeals court refused to issue an immediate stay, although it has yet to make a final decision on whether a grand jury can ultimately access the president's tax documents. A hearing on the matter has been scheduled for Sept. 1.
In a letter sent over the weekend to Trump's lawyer, the general counsel for Vance said the prosecutor will hold off on enforcing the subpoena to Mazars USA, Trump's accounting firm, for two days after the appeals court issues its decision.
Carey Dunne, general counsel for Vance, said the decision was made to give the appeals court "ample opportunity" to hear the arguments raised by the president's attorneys and to avoid more delays.
Trump's attorneys have claimed that he is immune from criminal investigations and that the subpoena was overly broad and was issued in bad faith. The president also has cast the Manhattan investigation as a political "witch hunt."
But in his 103-page ruling last week, Marrero, said the president isn't entitled to special privilege in the judicial process more than any other person. He also said that Trump's broad claims of absolute immunity, which the Supreme Court has also rejected, could have adverse legal consequences.
"At its core, it amounts to absolute immunity through a back door, an entry point through which not only a President but also potentially other persons and entities, public and private, could effectively gain cover from judicial process," Marrero wrote.
Earlier this month, Vance suggested that his office's investigation goes beyond the hush money payments and that prosecutors are looking broadly at the president's business. Prosecutors cited public reporting on "possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Manhattan DA delays enforcing subpoena for Donald Trump tax returns
