Manhattan DA: Trump tax return ruling a ‘tremendous victory’ for justice system

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. on Thursday praised a Supreme Court ruling that upheld his office’s subpoena of President Trump’s tax returns, calling it a win for the U.S. justice system.

“This is a tremendous victory for our nation’s system of justice and its founding principle that no one — not even a president — is above the law,” Vance, a Democrat, said in a statement.

“Our investigation, which was delayed for almost a year by this lawsuit, will resume, guided as always by the grand jury’s solemn obligation to follow the law and the facts, wherever they may lead,” he added.

Vance’s office last year issued a grand jury subpoena to Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, for the president’s personal and business tax returns and other financial documents. The district attorney’s office is investigating payments sent prior to the 2016 election to two women who allege they had affairs with Trump.

Trump’s lawyers filed a lawsuit in an effort to block the subpoena, arguing that sitting presidents are immune from the criminal process. But the Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 opinion that the U.S. Constitution does not “categorically preclude, or require a heightened standard for, the issuance of a state criminal subpoena to a sitting President.” The court remanded the case back to a lower court.

The Supreme Court also released a separate opinion on Thursday that declined to give Democratic-led House committees access to financial records of Trump that they had subpoenaed.