Trump Taxes, Long Guarded, Will Soon Be in Prosecutor’s Hands
Published Date: 2/23/2021
Source: Bloomberg Quicktake: Now
Donald Trump, who managed to keep his tax returns a secret the entire time he was in the White House, is about to see them fall into the hands of a New York prosecutor looking into possible criminal charges against him. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. subpoenaed Trump’s accounting firm for eight years of records in 2019, but the then-president took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, twice. On Monday, the justices abruptly rejected Trump’s final bid to block Vance, a Democrat. Trump’s refusal to release his taxes during the 2016 campaign, falsely claiming he couldn’t because he was under audit, marked a break with every presidential candidate of the last four decades. Once in office, he fought tooth and nail to keep them secret, challenging the oversight powers of the House tax committees that had previously been understood to have the power to examine any taxpayer’s return. Congress still doesn’t have Trump’s taxes. Many details of Trump’s taxes have emerged, notably in the New York Times last fall, but Vance will be receiving the returns as part of a criminal probe that looms as one of the biggest legal threats facing the former president and his company, the Trump Organization Inc. In August, Manhattan prosecutors suggested in court papers they may be looking into tax fraud, insurance fraud, and falsification of business records charges. New York Attorney General Letitia James is separately examining whether the Trump company inflated values of some of its properties, and Trump may also be part of a criminal probe in Atlanta over attempts to influence the 2020 Georgia vote count. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/qt/live, or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app. Have a story to tell? Fill out this survey for a chance to have it featured on Bloomberg Quicktake: https://cor.us/surveys/27AF30 Connect with us on… YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bloomberg Breaking News on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BloombergQuickTakeNews Twitter: https://twitter.com/quicktake Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quicktake Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quicktake