By Karen Freifeld
(Reuters) – The Manhattan district attorney on Friday said in a court filing that U.S. President Donald Trump was not entitled to a heightened standard of need for a grand-jury subpoena for his tax returns.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance was responding to an argument by Trump’s lawyers that the president deserves extra protection from what he called harassment.
Trump filed a lawsuit last month challenging the subpoena, which covers eight years of his personal and corporate tax records.
Vance is asking a judge to dismiss the case.
Trump has fought efforts by lawmakers and prosecutors to obtain his tax records, which should shed light on his financial dealings. He also defied decades of precedent as a presidential candidate by refusing to release tax returns.
In the filing, the prosecutor said Trump’s unfounded claims that the subpoena is overbroad and was issued in bad faith are “incredible” and “unreasonable.”
The lawsuit was filed after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that Trump was not immune from state criminal probes while in the White House. The high court said that Trump could challenge the subpoena on other grounds.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Alistair Bell)
