These Are All The Ways Democrats Are Trying To Get Trump’s Tax Returns Released

Topline: With Democrats pursuing multiple investigations into the president’s elusive finances, ongoing court battles over the release of Trump’s tax returns are heating up. Here’s a running list of where the various lawsuits stand:

• New York Attorney General: In March, Letitia James issued subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank for information relating to the Trump Organization’s finances and loans made to Trump. The investigation is pending, according to a spokesperson.
• House Financial Services and Intelligence committees: Deutsche Bank and Capital One were both subpoenaed last April for the tax records of Trump, his three eldest children and his business. In response, Trump and his family attempted to sue the two banks to block the subpoenas, and when that didn’t work they appealed the district court ruling that had prevented them from suing. The lawsuit is now awaiting a ruling before a federal appeals court in New York.
• House Oversight and Reform Committee: Trump’s longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA, was subpoenaed back in April for a decade of the president’s financial records. The case is still awaiting a decision in federal appeals court, after a district court judge had sided with the Oversight Committee in May.
• House Ways and Means Committee: Led by Democratic representative Richard Neal, the committee sent requests and subpoenas to the Treasury Department and I.R.S. earlier this year seeking six years of Trump’s federal tax returns. The administration rejected those efforts, prompting the committee to file a lawsuit—which is still under review. 
• Manhattan District Attorney: The most recent lawsuit over Trump’s tax returns originated in Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office, which subpoenaed Mazars USA in late August. The Manhattan DA is seeking eight years of the president’s personal and business returns as part of a grand jury investigation into hush money payments. Trump’s lawyers sued to block the subpoena last month; the Justice Department intervened in early October and asked a federal judge to temporarily delay the subpoena. 
• New York’s tax return law, enacted in July, also prompted a lawsuit, which now awaits a judge’s ruling about whether the case goes to federal court in D.C. The law would allow Congress’ tax committee chairs to request the state tax returns of public officials from New York’s Department of Taxation and Finance.
• California law SB-27, signed in July, was recently blocked by a federal judge. The law would require candidates running in the state’s primary elections to release five years of federal tax returns in order to make it onto the ballot.

Key background: President Trump has consistently refused to reveal his finances since taking office, notably breaking with precedent by not releasing his tax returns. He and his lawyers have so far successfully delayed attempts to obtain the returns by suing to block subpoenas from congressional Democrats and state lawmakers.