US Supreme Court orders delay in release of Trump's tax returns

NEW YORK (DPA) - The US Supreme Court on Monday (Nov 18) temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that required President Donald Trump to turn over eight years of his tax returns to a Congressional committee.

The move gives the nation's highest judicial body time to decide whether to step into a tussle between Congress and the President. The brief order does not indicate how the justices will proceed.

Earlier on Monday, the Democrat-controlled House said in a letter that it did not oppose a 10-day delay to give the justices more time to consider legal arguments.

Mr Trump last week appealed to the Supreme Court to block a subpoena issued by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform requiring his private accounting firm to release his financial records.

The Supreme Court order gives the committee until Thursday to respond. The justices are scheduled to meet in private on Friday.

Without the intervention by the high court, an appeals court ruling enforcing the committee's subpoena was due to take effect on Wednesday.

Mr Trump separately requested that the Supreme Court block a subpoena from a New York prosecutor for his tax returns. The demand for the records ties back to alleged hush money payments made ahead of the 2016 election to two women who said they had affairs with Mr Trump.

Mr Trump was a real estate mogul and reality television star before running for the nation's highest office. Breaking with decades of tradition, Mr Trump did not release his returns in the lead up to the election or since taking over the occupancy of the White House.