Today’s Supreme Court ruling means that the grand jury investigation into alleged hush money payments and other issues will no longer be hampered by former President Trump’s fight to keep the documents secret.
The documents, however, will be subject to grand jury secrecy rules that restrict their public release.
The subpoenas span documents from January 2011 to August 2019, including Trump’s tax returns, from his long time accounting firm, Mazars. The documents relate to the Trump Organization’s employment of Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen and hush money payment Cohen allegedly made to two woman who claimed to have had extramarital affairs with Trump.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s office is investigating whether the Trump Organization violated state laws and is looking into the legality of tax deductions, including from conservation easements and consulting fees the company took, as well as what the Trump Organization told lenders and tax authorities about the value of its assets.
Vance’s investigation started its investigation in earnest in August 2019, initially looking into the hush-money payments Cohen facilitated to silence two women’s claims that they had affairs with Trump. The former President has denied the affairs.
Vance’s office has said the records are crucial to the investigation, in part because of the statute of limitations for the potential crimes they are investigating.