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US SC to decide who can see Trump’s tax returns

Washington, July 9 (IANS) The US Supreme Court is set to unveil its decision on Thursday about whether Congress gets to see President Donald Trumps tax returns and financial records, a media reports said.

The court’s final opinion day of its 2019-20 term also includes a related dispute about whether New York prosecutors can similarly access Trump’s financial records, held by his accounting firm and banks, Politico news said in the report.

Unlike other recent Presidents, Trump has refused to release his tax returns and a decision against him could result in his personal financial information becoming public in the campaign season, a BBC report had said earlier.

Experts have said that the ruling will have far-reaching implications for the ability of Congress to scrutinise the activities of sitting Presidents and of prosecutors to investigate them.

Two committees at the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and New York prosecutors demand the release of his tax returns and other information.

In the three cases, Trump’s lawyers tried to block the subpoenas – orders to hand over evidence.

The two committees demanded financial records from two banks that did deals with Trump – Deutsche Bank and Capital One – as well as from Mazars, the President’s accountants.

Deutsche Bank was one of the few banks willing to lend Trump after a series of corporate bankruptcies in the 1990s, and the documents sought to include records related to the President, the Trump Organization and his family.

Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers have argued that Congress had no authority to issue the subpoenas, and no valid justification to seek the records.

The Trump subpoena cases were originally set to be heard on March 31, but the actual, virtual arguments were conducted on May 12, said the Politico news report.

The COVID-19 pandemic in the US led the apex court to suspend in-person arguments, hold its first-ever telephone arguments and push some cases into the fall.

–IANS

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