Donald Trump's lawyers have asked the Supreme Court to intervene after a three-judge panel on a lower court said his accounting firm has to turn over eight years of his tax returns to prosecutors in New York.
The appeals court unanimously ruled that Trump was not immune from criminal investigation, and that a third party could be required to turn over a sitting president's financial records for use in a grand jury investigation. In this instance, prosecutors are investigating hush-money payments Trump allegedly made through his then-attorney Michael Cohen to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal.
”We note that the past six presidents, dating back to President Carter, all voluntarily released their tax returns to the public," Judge Katzmann wrote for the panel. "While we do not place dispositive weight on this fact, it reinforces our conclusion that the disclosure of personal financial information, standing alone, is unlikely to impair the president in performing the duties of his office."
So now it will be up to the Supreme Court to decide if it will take the case. Trump's lawyers are still arguing that as a sitting president, he is "absolutely immune" from criminal prosecution. This could show us how deeply Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has managed to damage the republic by engineering a Republican Supreme Court.