Federal Appeals Court Latest to Rule Trump Must Turn Over Tax Returns in Manhattan Criminal Probe

A federal appeals ruled Monday that Donald Trump must turn over eight years of personal and corporate tax returns to Manhattan prosecutors—the latest blow to the president, who has argued he is immune from criminal prosecution while in office. At issue is a grand jury subpoena by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who is investigating alleged hush-money payments made to women just before the 2016 presidential election. In its decision, the three-judge panel on the appeals court upheld an October ruling noting that the president’s accounting firm—not the president himself—is responsible for providing the documents. “We emphasize again the narrowness of the issue before us,” reads the decision. “This appeal does not require us to consider whether the president is immune from indictment and prosecution while in office, nor to consider whether the president may lawfully be ordered to produce documents for use in a state criminal proceeding.”

The ruling is not likely the end of the line for Trump, who has fought hard to keep his financial records private. Moments after the decision was announced, the president’s lawyer told Politico what all sides have acknowledged is the next step in tax returns saga: “We will be taking this case to the Supreme Court.” It will be up to the high court to decide if it wants to hear the case and, if so, when. As part of an agreement with prosecutors, the president’s lawyers must petition the high court in the next 10 days to hear the case in its current term.