Trump cannot block grand jury subpoena for his tax returns, court rules

A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that President Trump cannot block enforcement of a New York grand jury subpoena for eight years of his tax returns.

The ruling, from a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, affirms a federal judge's decision in August that rejected Trump's claims that the subpoena from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. (D) was overly broad and issued in bad faith.

The parties have agreed to temporarily halt enforcement of the subpoena.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office last year subpoenaed Trump's accounting firm, Mazars USA, for the president's personal and business tax returns and other financial records.

Trump initially challenged the subpoena by arguing that presidents have sweeping immunity from the criminal process. In July, the Supreme Court rejected that argument and sent the case back to the lower courts for further proceedings. Trump then filed a new complaint that argued that the subpoena is too broad and amounts to presidential harassment.

The appeals court rejected the argument that the subpoena is too broad.

Trump had argued that the subpoena casts too wide of a net, claiming that the New York prosecutors' grand-jury investigation is limited to payments made by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, ahead of the 2016 presidential election to two women who allege that they had affairs with Trump.