Trump tries to hide his taxes but a judge gave him another clear order and presidential power is at stake

Donald Trump suffered a new judicial blow on Thursday after a New York judge forced him for the second time to deliver his tax returns to a Manhattan prosecutor. And again the president has filed an appeal to prevent it.

Trump has said he would make his remarks public but has not kept his word . As a candidate, he is the only one in modern American history to refuse to disclose his taxes.

At the time, he alleged that the returns were "under audit" by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). But the IRS responded that an audit did not prevent the release of the documents.

The person behind the request is Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance , ever since Trump's former personal attorney , Michael Cohen, admitted to Congress that the president had misled tax officials, insurers, and associated companies about the value of his assets, according to The Associated Press news agency.

Vance's office in September 2019 sent a subpoena to the accounting firm Mazars USA, which makes the president's annual returns, to obtain his and his company's tax returns for the past eight years .

The subpoena is part of a criminal investigation against the Trump Organization for payments to silence two women (including a porn actress) with whom the president allegedly had extramarital sex, something Trump has denied.

[A prosecutor tracks down payments to porn actresses and goes after Trump's tax returns]

The House of Representatives also made a similar request to Mazars USA, in addition to registrations to Deutsche Bank and Capital One banks. However, the Supreme Court ruled that the president was not obligated to release that information to Congress .

Continuous blocking attempts

Through his attorneys, the president has argued that Vance's subpoena was issued in bad faith and that it could be politically motivated and harass him , especially as the wording mimicked the language of congressional subpoenas.

To prevent the Manhattan prosecution from having access to the documents, Trump filed a lawsuit that was reviewed by New York District Judge Victor Marrero.

It was the lawyers' first attempt to shield the president, arguing that being president represents immunity .  

In a 75-page ruling in October 2019, Judge Marrero called the lawyers' argument "disgusting" and ruled that Trump does not have "unlimited" immunity .

[Federal judge gives green light to require Trump to submit tax returns]

One of Trump's attorneys immediately filed an emergency motion with the Second District Court of Appeals.

In December, Jay Sekulow, one of the president's personal attorneys, said that "deeply serious constitutional issues" are at stake and the "core of the controversy" concerns whether "Congress can exercise dominance and control over the Office of the President. "according to CNN.

The case then went to the Supreme Court, which upheld Marrero's decision, decreeing that Trump was not immune to Vance's request for the sake of being president, but giving his lawyers the opportunity to present new arguments.

[The Supreme Court forces Trump to hand over his tax data to justice but not to Congress]

After the second blockade attempt, Marrero dealt a new blow to the president on Thursday, once again rejecting the arguments of his defense , which accused the prosecutor Vence "acting in bad faith" and said that his request is "very broad."

In a 103-page resolution, Marrero wrote that under the defense arguments, not only the president but any person or entity could declare themselves immune and be protected from a judicial process.

But the president's lawyers have once again filed an emergency appeal to freeze the case, so now the case will be reviewed by the Second Circuit of the Courts of Appeals.

How far does executive privilege go? That is the question

The decision of Marrero and the Supreme puts at stake not only the content of the financial records themselves, and what they could clarify about whether the president has committed financial fraud (as his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and his niece Mary Trump have accused) or if you have been honest in characterizing yourself as a successful billionaire. 

Also at stake is how much power a president has to refuse to comply with a formal congressional subpoena ( subpoena ) and how far executive privilege goes in shielding a president in an investigation.