Legal Fight Over Trump’s Financial Records Grinds On Even As Tax Details Spill Out

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President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence make their way to the Rose Garden to speak on COVID-19 testing at the White House Monday.

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Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance arrives at federal court for a hearing related to President Trump’s financial records in October 2019 in New York City.

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Democrats Say Trump Tax Returns Report Shows His ‘Disdain’ For Working Families

But the justices returned the matter to the lower courts to allow the president to raise other objections. Trump issued new challenges to the subpoena, calling it overbroad and in bad faith. A district court ruled against him, but he appealed and the matter now sits with the federal appeals court in New York.

A three-judge panel held a hearing in the case last week, and the court appeared skeptical of Trump’s arguments.

What happens next?

Both of these cases currently sit before federal appeals courts in Washington, D.C., and New York. Legal experts say the Times’ reporting is unlikely to have a major impact on either case, but it doesn’t mean it can’t factor in in some way.

«It would not surprise me if the Vance team files some sort of notice asking to take a look at it,» said Stuart Gerson, who led the Justice Department’s Criminal Division during the George H.W. Bush administration and briefly served as acting attorney general. «He could file something with the court, and it certainly would be of a piece of what’s set forth in their brief.»

Gerson noted that Vance has cited a number of media reports detailing potential crimes and other alleged misconduct by Trump or his businesses, and the latest report could be added to that list.

But one thing appears clear: neither case is likely to be resolved before the election. The losing side is likely to appeal to the Supreme Court.

«Do I think that there will be continued and protracted appeals in this case? Absolutely,» Gerson said. «That’s the Trump strategy.»

But he also notes that the Vance investigation goes on and «looms big and bold in the future for Donald Trump, whenever his term ends.»