New York City prosecutors have subpoenaed Donald Trump's tax returns, a source has said.
Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance jnr's office recently sent a subpoena to the president's accounting firm seeking the last eight years of state and federal tax returns for Mr Trump and his company, the Trump Organisation, according to the source.
Mr Vance, a Democrat, subpoenaed the Trump Organisation last month for records related to payments former lawyer for Mr Trump Michael Cohen helped arrange to the porn actor Stormy Daniels after she claimed she had an affair with Mr Trump.
The accounting firm, Mazars USA, said in a statement that it "will respect the legal process and fully comply with its legal obligations".
The firm said it believes strongly in ethical and professional rules and regulations governing the accounting industry and does not comment on work it does for clients.
A lawyer for the Trump Organisation, Marc Mukasey, said he is "evaluating the situation and will respond as appropriate".
Federal prosecutors in New York and Washington spent months investigating payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to two women who said they had affairs with Mr Trump, including Daniels and model Karen McDougal.
Cohen – who made one of the payments himself and arranged for American Media Inc, the parent company of the National Enquirer, to pay the other – ultimately pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, tax evasion and other crimes and is serving a three-year sentence.
Personal matter
Mr Trump, who denies any sexual relationship with the women, has said any payments were a personal matter, not a campaign expense.
The US attorney’s office in New York informed a court last month that it had finished investigating the payments. No one besides Cohen was charged, although prosecutors said in public court filings that Mr Trump was aware of and directed the payments.
The Trump Organisation also reimbursed Cohen for money he paid to Daniels. Cohen has argued that organisation officials disguised the true nature of the payments and that it is unfair he was the only one prosecuted.
The federal inquiry looked at whether campaign finance laws were broken.
The New York Times reported, citing “people briefed on the matter”, that Mr Vance’s inquiry involves an examination of whether anyone at the Trump Organisation falsified business records by falsely listing the reimbursements to Cohen as a legal expense.
Falsifying business records can be a crime under state law. – AP