President Donald Trump asked a federal judge Thursday to block an effort by New York prosecutors to obtain his tax returns, opening a new legal front in the president's efforts to prevent his financial information from becoming public.
Trump's attorneys filed a lawsuit against the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R Vance Jr, who recently subpoenaed the president's accounting firm for eight years of his state and federal returns.
They said the subpoena was unconstitutional and a "bad faith effort to harass the President by obtaining and exposing his confidential financial information".
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, asks US District Judge Victor Marrero to declare the subpoena invalid and unenforceable.
It says the US Constitution "prohibits states from subjecting the president to criminal process while he is in office".
Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow said the lawsuit is intended "to address the significant constitutional issues at stake in this case."