Prosecutor seeking Donald Trump's tax returns cites public allegations about his businesses

A New York prosecutor trying to obtain Donald Trump's tax returns has told a court he was justified in demanding them due to media reports of "extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization".

It was the latest twist in a long saga over access to Mr Trump's tax returns.

Cyrus Vance Jr., the Manhattan District Attorney, is seeking eight years of Mr Trump's personal and corporate tax records.

Mr Trump's lawyers said last month that a subpoena for them amounted to harassment of the president and was "overbroad".

Mr Vance had so far disclosed little about what prompted him to request the records, other than part of the investigation relates to alleged payoffs to women to keep them quiet about alleged affairs, which Mr Trump has denied having.

But in a court filing on Monday Mr Vance said Mr Trump's arguments that the subpoena was too broad stemmed from "the false premise" that the investigation was limited to those so-called "hush-money" payments.

Lawyers for Mr Vance said public reporting demonstrated that, at the time the subpoena was issued, there were "public allegations of possible criminal activity at plaintiff's New York County-based Trump Organization dating back over a decade."

They said: "These reports describe transactions involving individual and corporate actors based in New York County, but whose conduct at times extended beyond New York's borders.

"This possible criminal activity occurred within the applicable statutes of limitations, particularly if the transactions involved a continuing pattern of conduct."

They cited several newspaper articles, including one in the Washington Post examining allegations that Mr Trump had a practice of sending out financial statements to potential business partners and banks that inflated the worth of his properties.

Mr Vance’s filing also noted a court opinion from the judge in October that the information being subpoenaed could be useful in examining claims of "alleged insurance and bank fraud by the Trump Organization and its officers.”

There was no immediate comment from the Trump Organization.

Lawyers for Mr Vance said Mr Trump was not entitled to know the scope and nature of the investigation.

But they said information already in the public domain about Mr Trump's business dealings provided satisfactory support for the subpoena of his tax records.