Trump sues to try and block New York prosecutors from getting his tax returns

President files lawsuit after state prosecutors subpoena his financial records amid probe

Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr after New York City prosecutors subpoenaed the president’s tax returns while probing his financial dealings, according to a new report.

The lawsuit arrived after it was reported this week Manhattan District Attorney’s office recently sent a subpoena to Mr Trump’s accounting firm seeking the last eight years of state and federal tax returns for the president and his company, the Trump Organisation.

Jay Sekulow, an attorney for Mr Trump, said the lawsuit was intended “to address the significant constitutional issues at stake in this case”. The president’s attorneys filed the suit on Thursday in US District Court in New York.

Mr Vance, a Democrat, subpoenaed the Trump Organisation last month for records related to payments Mr Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, helped arrange to a porn actress who claimed she had an affair with the president prior to his 2016 election.

The District Attorney’s office is also pursuing a state mortgage fraud case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Asked about the subpoena as he left the White House on Monday, Mr Trump said: “I don’t know anything about it.”

A lawyer for the Trump Organisation, Marc Mukasey, also said earlier in the week he was “evaluating the situation and will respond as appropriate”.

Mr Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, said in a statement earlier this week that it “will respect the legal process and fully comply with its legal obligations”.

Mazars was subpoenaed earlier this year by a House committee seeking the president’s financial records. The firm said it believes strongly in ethical and professional rules governing the accounting industry and does not comment on work it does for clients.

The president and three of his children filed a lawsuit in April seeking to block two House committees from getting records that his longtime lender, Deutsche Bank, has said includes tax returns.

A federal appeals court indicated last month that it would take a hard look at the legality of the subpoenas after Mr Trump’s lawyers argued the House committee subpoenas were overly broad and unconstitutional.

In July, Mr Trump sued to block the application of a new state law in New York that could allow a third House committee to obtain his state tax returns.

In April, he and his company sued the chairman of the House oversight committee to block a subpoena issued to Mazars seeking financial statements, accounting records and other documents covering 2011 to 2018.

Additional reporting by AP