The public prosecutor has ordered the documents to be released under the threat of punishment, and the supreme court agreed. But Trump’s lawyers are raising new objections.
US President Donald Trump has made another attempt to prevent financial documents from being released to the Manhattan Prosecutor’s Office.
The President’s lawyers ordered a New York court to declare a subpoena “invalid and unenforceable”, according to a lawsuit. The subpoena of the public prosecutor’s office is “incredibly comprehensive”. In addition, it was issued “with malicious intent” and is equivalent to the “harassment” of the President, it says.
Trump had been brought to the US Supreme Court in litigation over the documents requested by prosecutor Cyrus Vance at Mazar’s accountant. The Supreme Court ruled in early July that Trump, as President, was not exempt from the obligation to provide evidence in criminal proceedings when requested to do so.
In doing so, the court basically granted the Manhattan District Attorney the right to investigate what Trump and his companies ‘financial records from Mazars’ accountant had done in the course of an investigation into what Trump had tried to block. At the same time, the court, in which conservative judges have a majority, pointed out that Trump could contest this like anyone else. The details now need to be clarified at the lower level, where the lawyers have exercised their right to raise new objections.
Trump’s legal team also asked the court to prohibit the accountant from disclosing information. Vance plans to view tax records from Trump and his companies for over eight years. The investigation is also about alleged hush-money payments that Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen is said to have paid to pornstar Stormy Daniels and former Playmate Karen McDougal. Trump has had affairs with both women claim, which he denies. Unlike the President before him, Trump vehemently opposes the surrender of his financial and tax documents.
