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Here's why the fight over Trump's financial, tax records isn't over by a long shot

President Donald Trump may have lost his hard-fought bid to block federal prosecutors from obtaining his financial records, but the matter is far from settled.

On Thursday, New York district court judge Anthony Marrero rejected the president’s arguments that eight years of financial records, held by accounting firm Mazars USA, should remain out of the reach of a grand jury investigation being conducted by Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr.

However, Trump’s legal team filed yet another appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to delay enforcement of the order. The move all but assures that the long-running fight may drag into next year — well after the hotly contested general election is over.

“This could take another year,” criminal defense attorney Richard Herman told Yahoo Finance, buying the president more time as his appeal works its way through the court system. “He’s going to eventually have to give over his tax returns, it’s just not going to be now.”

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The legal maneuver marks the second time Trump has appealed an order issued by Clinton-appointed judge Marrero requiring disclosure of the tax records. Although the appeal will be scheduled on an expedited basis, a ruling is not likely to be made before November's presidential election.

Originally, the financial records were thought to be targeted by the grand jury in connection with alleged hush money payments made to two women who claimed to have had sexual relationships with the president.

However, a court document filed by the district attorney earlier in August suggested a broader investigation by the representation that the prosecutor’s office was looking into “public reports of possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization” and the possibility of “protracted criminal conduct.”

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court sent the matter back to the Manhattan federal court after ruling that as a sitting president, Trump is not entitled to immunity from criminal investigations, and therefore must respond to a grand jury subpoena.

The court acknowledged that the president may have had grounds to argue against the disclosure of the records, and said he could raise the same defenses to the subpoena that any litigant would be entitled to raise.

Trump has argued that the requests for his tax records are overboard, made in bad faith, politically motivated and intended to harass him.

Still, because the subpoena was issued in connection with a grand jury investigation, any financial records turned over by Trump are required to remain secret. The president’s tax records would therefore remain outside the public’s view until charges are filed.