By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal judge on Friday denied Donald Trump’s request to delay allowing the Manhattan district attorney to obtain his tax returns while the U.S. president appeals.
U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero, who on Thursday rejected Trump’s arguments that the grand jury subpoena from district attorney Cyrus Vance was “wildly overbroad,” said Trump failed to justify a stay.
The Manhattan judge said Trump failed to show his appeal would likely succeed, or that he would be irreparably harmed without a stay but Trump’s tax returns are unlikely to become public before the Nov. 3 presidential election.
“Because a grand jury is under a legal obligation to keep the confidentiality of its records, the court finds that no irreparable harm will ensue from the disclosure to it of the President’s records sought here,” Marrero wrote.
Lawyers for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for Vance declined to comment.
In Thursday’s ruling, Marrero said throwing out the subpoena to Trump’s accounting firm Mazars USA would effectively give the president immunity from Vance’s criminal probe, to which the U.S. Supreme Court had in July said he was not entitled.
In a Thursday court filing, Trump’s lawyers said Vance agreed not to enforce the subpoena before Aug. 27.
Trump is also seeking a stay from both the federal appeals court in Manhattan and the Supreme Court.
The legal battle and grand jury secrecy rules make it unlikely the tax returns will become public before November’s election, where Trump is seeking a second term.
The case is Trump v Vance et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 19-08694.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Alistair Bell)
