Fight Over Trump Tax Returns Not Over, President Indicates He'll Try Again To Quash NY Subpoena

President Trump is unwilling to turn over his tax returns to New York prosecutors despite a Supreme Court ruling last week that declared he has no enhanced immunity from criminal investigation, a court filing Wednesday indicated.

Trump has argued the subpoena for eight years of his financial records by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, a Democrat, is politically motivated and contended he had absolute immunity from a grand jury investigation – an argument rejected 7-2 by the high court.

A scheduling hearing was scheduled for Thursday. Briefs from both sides were due mid-August.

Vance is investigating whether state law was broken in hush-money payments Trump made to two women – porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal – during the 2016 campaign. The women alleged they had had affairs with the president before he ran for office, something the president has denied.

The investigation is up against a statute of limitations deadline. Vance’s office said Wednesday it would give Trump until July 27 to file any new claims and would hold off on enforcing the subpoena as long as the litigation moves quickly.

Trump’s attorneys filed a memo with U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero that said “further proceedings” would be necessary and promised a new effort to quash the subpoena soon, indicating they would argue the subpoena was too broad and amounted to a “fishing expedition.”

Vance issued the subpoena nearly a year ago to Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars U.S.A., seeking eight years of corporate and personal tax returns. Marrero and an appeals court upheld the subpoena and the Supreme Court issued its ruling last Thursday, remanding the case back to district court.

Marrero already has ruled there was no bad faith involved or an attempt to harass the president that would hurt his ability to govern, positions affirmed by the high court.

Vance said it would by “highly irregular and inappropriate” for the president to demand to know why the grand jury wants the materials.

“If the president has anything left to say [he should do so] with all appropriate haste," Vance said.

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, said he paid Daniels $130,000 for her silence and funneled $150,000 to McDougal at Trump’s behest. Cohen pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws and currently is serving a three-year sentence.