WASHINGTON 鈥� In a significant defeat for former President Donald Trump, the Supreme Court on Monday declined to step in to halt the turnover of his tax records to a New York state prosecutor.
The court鈥檚 action is the apparent culmination of a lengthy legal battle that had already reached the high court once before.
Trump鈥檚 tax records are not supposed to become public as part of prosecutors' criminal investigation, but the high court鈥檚 action is a blow to Trump because he has long fought on so many fronts to keep his tax records shielded from view. The ongoing investigation that the records are part of could also become an issue for Trump in his life after the presidency.
In a statement, the Trump blasted prosecutors and said the 鈥淪upreme Court never should have let this 鈥榝ishing expedition鈥� happen, but they did.鈥� The Republican claimed the investigation is politically motivated by Democrats in 鈥渁 totally Democrat location, New York City and State.鈥� And he said he would 鈥渇ight on鈥� and that 鈥淲e will win!鈥�
The Supreme Court waited months to act in the case. The last of the written briefs in the case was filed Oct. 19. But a court that includes three Trump appointees waited through the election, Trump鈥檚 challenge to his defeat and a month after Trump left office before issuing its order.
The court offered no explanation for the delay, and the legal issue before the justices did not involve whether Trump was due any special deference because he was president.
The court鈥檚 order is a win for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who has been seeking Trump鈥檚 tax records since 2019 as part of an investigation. Vance, a Democrat, had subpoenaed the records from the Mazars accounting firm that has long done work for Trump and his businesses. Mazars has said it would comply with the subpoena, but Trump sued to block the records鈥� release.
Vance鈥檚 office had said it would be free to enforce the subpoena and obtain the records in the event the Supreme Court declined to step in and halt the records鈥� turnover, but it was unclear when that might happen. In a three-word statement Monday, Vance said only: 鈥淭he work continues.鈥�
The court's action Monday wasn't the only defeat for Trump, the court also declined to get involved in a handful of cases related to the 2020 election.
The records Vance has been after are more than eight years of Trump鈥檚 personal and corporate tax records. Vance has disclosed little about what prompted him to seek them. In one court filing last year, however, prosecutors said they were justified in demanding the records because of public reports of 鈥減ossibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization.鈥�
Part of the probe involves payments to two women 鈥� porn actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal 鈥� to keep them quiet during the 2016 presidential campaign about alleged extramarital affairs with Trump. Trump has denied the affairs.
In July, the justices in a 7-2 ruling rejected Trump鈥檚 argument that the president is immune from investigation while he holds office or that a prosecutor must show a greater need than normal to obtain the tax records.
Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, whom Trump nominated to the high court, joined that decision. It was issued before Trump鈥檚 third nominee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, replaced the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the court.
As part of its July decision, the high court returned the Vance case and a similar case involving records sought by Congress to lower courts. And the court prevented the records from being turned over while the cases proceeded.
Since the high court鈥檚 ruling, in the Vance case, Trump鈥檚 attorneys made additional arguments that his tax records should not be turned over, but they lost again in federal court in New York and on appeal. It was those rulings that Trump had sought to put on hold.
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Associated Press reporter Jill Colvin contributed to this report.
Jessica Gresko, The Associated Press
