US Supreme Court allows prosecutor to obtain Trump's financial records

Democrats vow to keep up their fight to access the President's finances after the court denied their request to see them but ruled they must be shared with a New York criminal investigation.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday firmly rejected President Donald Trump's arguments for sweeping presidential immunity and ruled that a New York prosecutor can obtain his financial records but prevented - at least for now - Democratic-led House of Representatives committees from getting similar documents.

The twin 7-2 rulings authored by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts mark another milestone in Trump's tumultuous presidency and in the short term prevent details of his finances from becoming public because lower courts must resolve lingering issues.

The businessman-turned politician, seeking re-election on Nov. 3, has fought tenaciously to keep his tax returns and other elements of his finances secret - and the rulings spare him of any major revelation at a sensitive time. But looking further ahead, Trump faces possible future criminal prosecution in his native New York, perhaps after he leaves office.

The Supreme Court emphasized that there are limits to the powers of the presidency and stoutly reaffirmed the principle that not even the president is above the law - a message delivered 3-1/2 years into a presidency in which Trump has repeatedly skirted the norms of American political conduct.

Trump's two Supreme Court appointees, conservatives Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, joined Roberts and the four liberal justices in both rulings, spurning Trump's arguments that the Constitution gave him absolute immunity from any criminal proceedings as a sitting president.

 Democrats vowed to keep up their fight to get access to President Donald Trump's finances after the U.S. Supreme Court denied their request to see them but ruled they must be shared with a New York criminal investigation.

The decision means voters almost certainly will not see Trump's tax returns and other documents before the Nov. 3 election, when he will try to win a second four-year term. But Democratic leaders said they would continue their efforts to make that information public.

"No matter how much he wishes it to be true, President Trump is not king," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. "The Supreme Court today upheld a fundamental tenet of our democracy that no one is above the law."

Unlike other recent presidents, Trump has refused to disclose materials that would shed light on the scope of his wealth and his family-run real estate business. "Now I have to keep fighting in a politically corrupt New York. Not fair to this Presidency or Administration!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulow said the battle was not over. "We will now proceed to raise additional Constitutional and legal issues in the lower courts," Sekulow said in a prepared statement.

(With inputs from Reuters)