What to Know
- The Manhattan DA's office has subpoenaed eight years of President Trump's tax returns, a source tells NBC News
- The president's attorney says they are evaluating their response
- Manhattan DA Cy Vance's office has been looking into alleged hush-money payments to women by the Trump Organization
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has sent a grand jury subpoena to President Donald Trump’s accounting firm to get his tax returns and corporate tax returns for the past 8 years, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told NBC News on Monday.
The subpoena was served on Mazars USA, which prepares the President’s tax returns. News of the subpoena was first reported by the New York Times.
"We are evaluating the situation and will respond as appropriate," the president’s attorney, Marc Mukasey, told NBC News.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.
A spokesperson for Mazars USA, which received the subpoena says they “will respect the legal process and fully comply with its legal obligations.
"As a matter of firm policy and professional rules we do not comment on the work we conduct for our clients.”
Legal experts familiar with such requests say the subpoena will likely focus not just on the tax returns, but also the underlying documents used to generate the tax returns such as bank statements, expense statements, and other financial documents.
The subpoena stems from the ongoing criminal investigation by DA Cy Vance's office into the Trump Organization, specifically about payments made to two women who have alleged affairs with the president and whether those payments were falsely accounted for in some way.
The president has strongly denied the affairs.
Local
Last August the president’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, admitted to making illegal payments to the two women, identified as porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, at Trump's behest to silence them ahead of the 2016 election.
Cohen is currently serving a three-year prison sentence for a slew of crimes, including breaking campaign finance laws by hiding payments to two women who claimed they had affairs with Trump.
Prior to his Congressional testimony earlier this year, Cohen released copies of two checks with the President’s signature that he says were used to pay him back for his $130,000 payment to Daniels.
NBC News has previously reported that Cohen has proffered information to prosecutors from the D.A.’s office.
