“In response to the subpoenas issued by the New York County District Attorney, we have filed a lawsuit this morning in federal court on behalf of the president in order to address the significant constitutional issues at stake in this case,” Jay Sekulow, a lawyer for the president, said in a statement.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office issued a subpoena late last month seeking a range of tax documents from Trump’s accounting firm, including his personal returns and those of his business, the Trump Organization. The subpoena seeks federal and state returns for both the president and the company dating to 2011, according to several people with knowledge of the subpoena.
The office made the demand soon after opening a criminal investigation into the role that the president and his family business played in hush-money payments made in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
Both Trump and the company reimbursed Michael D. Cohen, the president’s former lawyer and fixer, for money Cohen paid to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who said she had an affair with Trump. The president has denied the affair.
Both Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, and the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., are named in the lawsuit.
A spokesman for Vance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This article originally appeared in
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