Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox? Sign up here.Updated: 10:59 a.m.A federal judge ruled on Monday that President Trump has to turn over eight years’ worth of personal and corporate tax records to law enforcement. But Trump immediately appealed, and an appeals court has already agreed to temporarily block the judge's order.Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance subpoenaed those records last month. But Trump’s legal team sued to block their release, arguing that the president, by virtue of his station, cannot be subject to criminal investigations of any kind.READ: Deutsche Bank basically just confirmed they have Trump's tax returns. That should make him nervous.Today, U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero, of Manhattan, rejected that argument.“The expansive notion of constitutional immunity invoked here to shield the President from judicial process would constitute an overreach of executive power,” Marrero wrote. “This Court cannot endorse such a categorical and limitless assertion of presidential immunity from judicial process.”Read the 75-page decision here. Trump’s legal team filed an emergency appeal against the decision shortly after it was released, and an appeals judge quickly agreed to block Marrero's order.READ: Bill Barr's DOJ is fighting the release of Trump's tax returnsAt the center of the Manhattan district attorney’s fight to obtain Trump’s tax returns is his investigation into Trump’s financial relationship with his former lawyer Michael Cohen. Cohen has previously testified that, during the 2016 presidential campaign, he made several payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about the relationship she said she had with him.As part of that investigation, Vance is looking into whether Trump broke any laws in New York state related to those transactions.Cover image: In this Friday, Oct. 4, 2019 file photo, President Donald Trump speaks during the Young Black Leadership Summit at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
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