Supreme Court allows release of Trump tax returns

Former President Trump has released a statement responding to the Supreme Court's decision on releasing his tax returns to a New York prosecutors.

"The Supreme Court never should have let this 'fishing expedition' happen, but they did," Trump said in the statement.

The former President went on to call the decision "all Democrat-inspired."

"This is something which has never happened to a President before, it is all Democrat-inspired in a totally Democrat location, New York City and State, completely controlled and dominated by a heavily reported enemy of mine, Governor Andrew Cuomo," Trump continued.

More on today's ruling: The Supreme Court's decision is a bitter loss for Trump, even if the tax records are shielded from public disclosure, after he consistently argued that the subpoena issued by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance was overbroad and issued in bad faith.

It means that the grand jury investigation into alleged hush money payments and other issues will no longer be hampered by Trump's fight to keep the documents secret.

The ruling was issued without comment or noted dissent.

Vance celebrated the order, saying in a tweet, "The work continues."

Mazars, Trump's accounting firm, reacted in a statement to today's Supreme Court ruling, saying it is "committed to fulfilling all of our professional and legal obligations."

The company added: "Due to our industry's professional obligations Mazars cannot discuss any clients, or the nature of our services we provide for any client, in a public forum without client consent or as required by law."

Following today's Supreme Court ruling, although Trump's personal lawyers may continue to fight their appeal in the case, the fact that the documents will be released by Mazars, effectively ends the dispute.

The subpoenas span documents from January 2011 to August 2019, including Trump's tax returns, from 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.

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.

Today's Supreme Court ruling to clear the way for a New York prosecutor to obtain former President Trump's tax returns is the culmination of an ongoing battle between the Manhattan DA's office and the former President.

Here's a look back at the events that took place before today's decision:

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance released the following statement Monday in response to the US Supreme Court order in Trump v. Vance:

"The work continues," the statement read.

More on today's ruling: The Supreme Court decision is a bitter loss for Trump, even if the tax records are shielded from public disclosure, after he consistently argued that the subpoena issued by Vance was overbroad and issued in bad faith.

Vance tweeted his statement earlier today:

The Supreme Court cleared the way for a New York prosecutor to obtain former President Trump's tax returns, dealing a massive loss to Trump who has fiercely fought to shield his financial papers from prosecutors.

The ruling is a bitter loss for Trump, even if the tax records are shielded from public disclosure, after he consistently argued that the subpoena issued by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance was overbroad and issued in bad faith.

What this means for Trump: The grand jury investigation into alleged hush money payments and other issues will no longer be hampered by Trump's fight to keep the documents secret. The documents will be subject to grand jury secrecy rules that restrict their public release.The ruling was issued without comment or dissent.

Some background: Last July, the Supreme Court, voting 7-2, rejected the Trump's broad claims of immunity from a state criminal subpoena seeking his tax returns and said that as president he was not entitled to any kind of heightened standard unavailable to ordinary citizens. The justices sent the case back to the lower court so that the President could make more targeted objections regarding the scope of the subpoena.

CNN's Jessica Schneider reports: