President Donald Trump could be feeling the legal heat soon. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has issued a subpoena for eight years of Trump’s personal and corporate income tax returns as part of an ongoing investigation, according to a new report.
The New York Times, in Monday's article said the subpoena from DA Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office, was issued last month to Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA.
It is not clear if the DA has obtained any of tax returns he is seeking from Mazars. Trump has refused to publicly release his tax returns despite a long-standing practice by past presidents who did so.
Vance’s office was already known to be investigating the Trump Organization in connection with hush-money payments made shortly before the 2016 presidential election to porn star Stephanie Clifford, who claims she had sex with Trump years earlier.
Trump and his company reimbursed Michael Cohen, the president’s former personal lawyer and fixer, for the $130,000 payment he made to Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels. Vance, at least originally, was eyeing whether the Trump Organization falsified business records related to the payoff to Daniels.
Trump has denied having sex with Clifford, as well as with another woman, Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claims to have had an affair with the 45th president. McDougal herself received $150,000 from the publisher of The National Enquirer as part of a deal to keep her quiet about her allegations about Trump.
