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President Trump Doesn't Need To Release His Tax Returns — For Now

A federal appeals court has granted President Trump a temporary stay of decision, saying he does not have to turn over eight years of tax records for a New York state criminal probe.
Tanya Ballard Brown
NPR
A federal appeals court has granted President Trump a temporary stay of decision, saying he does not have to turn over eight years of tax records for a New York state criminal probe. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Updated at 10:59 a.m. ET

A federal appeals court on Monday granted President Trump an 11th-hour reprieve from having to immediately release his tax returns to the Manhattan district attorney.

The temporary stay of decision, issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, comes just hours after a federal judge in New York ruled that Trump's longtime accounting firm must turn over eight years of tax returns as part of a criminal probe of his business dealings. The president's personal attorneys immediately filed a notice of appeal.

As a result of the stay, Mazars USA is not required to hand over the documents by 1 p.m., as had been previously mandated. A panel of appellate judges will now conduct an "expedited review" of the case and issue a ruling.

In the earlier ruling, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said he could not endorse such a "categorical and limitless assertion of presidential immunity from judicial process."

Marrero's ruling comes as part of a criminal investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. into alleged hush money the Trump Organization paid to two women who claimed they had extramarital affairs with Trump before he took office. The president has denied those accusations.

Trump's Tax Returns

Defying long-standing political custom, Trump refused to release his tax returns as a presidential candidate and has continued to keep the returns under wraps while serving in the White House.

Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen — who is in prison for campaign finance violations — testified before Congress earlier this year that the Trump Organization paid him $350,000 as reimbursement for paying the women. Cohen brought receipts to Congress to back up his claims.

"And these include a copy of a check Mr. Trump wrote from his personal bank account, after he became president, to reimburse me for the hush money payments I made to cover up his affair with an adult film star and to prevent damage to his campaign," Cohen testified.

The Trump Organization said the money was a retainer.

The Manhattan DA is investigating whether this is a falsification of business records, which is a crime in New York.

The president's lawyers have argued that the probe is politically motivated and that he is immune from any criminal prosecution as long as he's president.

Trump responded via Twitter, saying "The Radical Left Democrats have failed on all fronts, so now they are pushing local New York City and State Democrat prosecutors to go get President Trump. A thing like this has never happened to any President before. Not even close!"

The Manhattan court battle is part of an effort to pry loose Trump's tax returns. Democrats in Congress are suing the Treasury Department for six years' worth of his tax returns under a provision that requires the IRS to hand over any taxpayer's filings to Congress.

Democrats have long claimed that Trump's tax returns could reveal whether Trump's business dealings as a candidate and president reveal conflicts of interest.

California recently enacted a law to require presidential candidates to disclose their taxes if they wanted to be on the state's primary ballot. But a federal judge blocked the legislation last month, siding with attorneys for Trump and the Republican Party who argued that the law violates the U.S. Constitution by adding an additional requirement to run for president, and that federal election rules dictating financial disclosures supersede state law.

California is expected to appeal the decision.

The bill's co-author, state Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, previously said getting the returns was the "least that we can do to know who it is we're voting for."

"Everyone assumed for decades that it was mandatory that you disclose your tax returns because every presidential candidate did it," said Weiner in mid-July on the Senate floor before the vote.

The law is a part of a feud between California and the Trump administration. They have clashed over issues like immigration and environmental regulations, including the state's auto mileage standards — which Trump said he is revoking because they are stricter than those issued by federal regulators.

Copyright 2019 NPR.

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