US top court allows release of Donald Trump tax records to prosecutors

The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected a bid by Donald Trump to prevent his tax records from being handed over to prosecutors in New York. The nation’s highest court denied the request filed by lawyers for the former president without comment. Trump has been waging a protracted legal battle to prevent his tax records from being handed over to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.

The prosecutor has been fighting for months to obtain eight years of Trump’s tax returns as part of an investigation into the ex-president’s finances. The ruling concerns a subpoena that Vance had issued to Trump’s accountants Mazars USA ordering it to hand over documents stretching back to 2011. “The work continues,” Vance said in a three-word statement issued after the ruling. 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.

But the state-level investigation is also now examining possible allegations of tax evasion, and insurance and bank fraud. Trump, who left the White House last month, did not immediately respond to Monday's ruling. In the past, he has called the investigation “the worst witch hunt in US history.” US presidents are not required by law to release details of their personal finances but every US leader since Richard Nixon has done so. Trump broke with this tradition.