Democrats vow to keep up fight after Supreme Court blocks bid for Trump finances

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - Democrats vowed to keep up their fight to get access to President Donald Trump's finances after the U.S. Supreme Court denied their request to see them but ruled they must be shared with a New York criminal investigation.

The decision means voters almost certainly will not see Trump's tax returns and other documents before the Nov. 3 election, when he will try to win a second four-year term. But Democratic leaders said they would continue their efforts to make that information public.

"No matter how much he wishes it to be true, President Trump is not king," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. "The Supreme Court today upheld a fundamental tenet of our democracy that no one is above the law."

Unlike other recent presidents, Trump has refused to disclose materials that would shed light on the scope of his wealth and his family-run real estate business.

The Supreme Court ruled that a New York prosecutor can get Trump's financial records, but prevented, at least for now, the Democratic-led House of Representatives from obtaining similar documents. That case will continue in lower courts.

Trump himself did not take the ruling as something to celebrate.

"Now I have to keep fighting in a politically corrupt New York. Not fair to this Presidency or Administration!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulow said the battle was not over.

"We will now proceed to raise additional Constitutional and legal issues in the lower courts," Sekulow said in a prepared statement.

Trump's lawyers had argued that U.S. presidents are immune from criminal proceedings while in office. But he could face legal exposure if he is defeated in November and leaves office in January 2021. Opinion polls show Trump trailing his likely Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.

House Democrats have been examining whether Trump's business dealings involved money laundering or left him vulnerable to foreign influence. Several said they were disappointed that the Supreme Court did not give them immediate access to his finances but predicted they would succeed in the long run.

"I am confident our Committee ultimately will prevail," House Oversight Committee chair Carolyn Maloney said in a statement.

Trump's Republican allies said both investigations are motivated by partisan politics.

"It seems much more political than anything else," House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said at a news conference.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan Additional reporting by Karen Freifeld, David Morgan, Mark Hosenball and Susan Cornwell Editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell)