Manhattan DA Says Trump Could Face Tax Fraud Investigation

For the first time, the Manhattan district attorney’s office has asserted it has grounds to investigate President Trump for tax fraud. The office of Cyrus Vance, which has been investigating the president’s business dealings for over two years, said in a new filing that news reports and public testimony justified a grand-jury inquiry for several crimes, including insurance fraud, falsification of business records, and tax fraud. “Even if the grand jury were testing the truth of public allegations alone, such reports, taken together, fully justify the scope of the grand jury subpoena at issue in this case,” the filing reads. Last year, Vance’s office issued a subpoena seeking eight years worth of Trump’s tax returns. A federal appeals court earlier this month granted a stay order request delaying the release of the returns as Trump appeals a lower court decision that allowed the subpoena to be enforced. The ongoing saga began with an inquiry about the president’s hush-money payments to alleged mistresses.