Prosecutors obtain Trump’s tax records

New York: New York prosecutors investigating former president Donald Trump´s finances have finally received his tax returns following a marathon legal battle, a spokesman said Thursday.

“Our office obtained the records on Monday,” Danny Frost, a spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, told AFP. Vance´s office obtained the returns after the Supreme Court rejected Monday a last-ditch bid by Trump´s lawyers to block the release of the records.

The prosecutor is investigating hush payments made to two women who allege they had affairs with Trump and possible fraud. Vance, a Democrat, fought for over a year to obtain the eight years of returns from Trump’s accountants Mazars USA.

He issued a subpoena to the firm in August 2019 ordering them to furnish documents stretching back to 2011. But Trump’s lawyers fought bitterly to block the subpoena. In July, the Supreme Court rejected their argument that as a sitting president Trump was immune from prosecution.

His attorneys then challenged the scope of the requested documents, saying it was too broad. Vance’s probe was initially focused on payments made before the 2016 presidential election to two women who claim they had affairs with Trump, including porn star Stormy Daniels.