A federal judge Wednesday temporarily halted a subpoena from New York City prosecutors that orders the release of President Trump’s personal and business tax returns.
Judge Victor Marrero, a Clinton appointee, issued a stay on the subpoena until 5 p.m. Thursday, asking lawyers from Trump’s team as well as the prosecutor’s office to answer whether they have agreed with how they’ll proceed with the case before his ruling.
Last week, both President Trump and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. filed lawsuits against Mr. Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, according to The Hill.
The Trump administration challenged Mr. Vance’s subpoena in late August as unconstitutional and politically motivated.
“The subpoena is a bad faith effort to harass the president by obtaining and exposing his confidential personal information, not a legitimate attempt to enforce New York law,” the lawsuit says.
The district attorney’s office disagreed by saying the law doesn’t provide immunity just because Mr. Trump is currently serving as president.
Mr. Marrero also gave the Department of Justice until Monday to decide whether they will weigh in on the case.
The lawsuit is the latest bid by the president to prevent prosecutors or congressional oversight panels from acquiring his tax documents. Mr. Trump bucked a decades-long tradition of presidential candidates releasing their tax returns to the public while on the campaign trail.
Mr. Vance is probing whether the Trump Organization falsified records related to the hush payments, which were facilitated by Mr. Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen. The payments were made ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
• Alex Swoyer and Jeff Mordock contributed to this article.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
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