Trump Wins Delay After Judge Refuses to Block N.Y. Tax Subpoena

President Donald Trump won a last-minute reprieve from a court order that would have forced his accountants to immediately hand over his tax filings and other financial records. But he still must persuade an appeals court to reject the ruling against him, which called Trump’s claims of immunity “repugnant” to the U.S. Constitution.

A federal judge in New York ruled early Monday that Trump can’t stop his accountants, Mazars USA LLP, from turning over eight years of taxes and other financial documents to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., whose office is investigating whether the Trump Organization falsified business records related to hush-money payments.

Trump immediately appealed and in less than two hours won a delay to give the federal appeals court in Manhattan time for expedited review. The delay postponed what would have been a 1 p.m. Monday deadline for Mazars to begin turning over the records to prosecutors.

The ruling means that Trump is closer to losing control of his tax filings and other financial records after years of defying a modern presidential norm of disclosing them to the public.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero rejected Trump’s request for an injunction to block a grand jury subpoena for Trump’s personal and business records, ruling that the case should have been filed in state court, rather than federal court. But he also ruled against the president’s constitutional claims, calling his argument for immunity from investigation “virtually limitless.”

Read More (...)