Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Photo: Scott Heins/Getty Images

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday that President Donald Trump may have filed to change his primary residence from New York to Florida in an effort to prevent lawmakers and attorneys, including Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., from obtaining his personal tax information.

Cuomo told reporters in the state Capitol in Albany that Trump's lawyers may have advised the change to build a stronger defense against efforts to seek his tax filings.

"My hypothesis is that Mr. Trump changed his residence for legal purposes. He is in the middle of a lawsuit where a number of agencies, including the Manhattan District Attorney, are trying to get his taxes," Cuomo said. "He's resisting releasing his taxes. He's in litigation."

"I think his lawyers think this will help his legal case when he can now say 'New York doesn't have a right to my taxes. I'm no longer a resident of New York.' My guess is that's one of his motivating factors," Cuomo continued.

He was responding to a report from the The New York Times published Thursday evening that found Trump filed to change his primary residence from New York to Florida in late September.

"Good riddance," Cuomo said in a statement on the move Thursday evening. 

On Friday, he appeared to expand on that statement, saying Trump changed his residence to aid his lawyers in litigation with Vance.

Trump is currently in the midst of a lawsuit against Vance—among others—over his tax returns. Vance, earlier this year, issued a subpoena to Trump for eight years of his tax filings. Trump is suing Vance to block that request. 

Marc Mukasey, a founding partner of Mukasey Frenchman & Sklaroff in Manhattan, is one of several attorneys representing Trump in that litigation. He's joined by other attorneys like William Consovoy of Consovoy McCarthy and Manhattan lawyer Alan Futerfas. 

When reached by phone Friday, Mukasey declined to comment on Cuomo's claim. 

Vance's office is seeking Trump's tax returns as part of its investigation into the role he played in hush-money payments made to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, immediately before the 2016 election.

Clifford has claimed that she and Trump were sexually involved at least once. Trump has denied the affair. 

Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty last year to his role in arranging those payments, which totaled $130,000. Vance's office is looking into whether Trump broke the law when he reimbursed Cohen for that payment. 

"I know he's fighting desperately with the Manhattan District Attorney not to release his taxes," Cuomo said. "I could see a lawyer advising him that, if he changes his residence, you have a stronger argument, because New York no longer has a right to his taxes."

Cuomo, on Friday, predicted that, regardless of what Vance finds, attorneys for Trump will continue to argue that he's exempt from criminal charges while in office. 

One of Trump's attorneys, in a court appearance last month, claimed Trump wouldn't face criminal liability, even if he shot someone point-blank in midtown Manhattan. He did concede, at the time, that Trump could face criminal charges after leaving office. 

That argument could also blend into anything that results from the impeachment inquiry launched by Democrats in Congress this year, Cuomo said.

"These are difficult cases across the board because it's going to blend into the president's argument on the impeachment inquiry, that he's not subject to criminal liability," Cuomo said.

The effort from Vance is one of several from Democrats across the country to obtain more information about Trump's taxes. Vance, however, is uniquely positioned to build a criminal case against Trump using his filings because of his past residency in Manhattan.

Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, are working on a few different fronts to obtain more information about Trump's finances.

The U.S. House of Representatives' Financial Services and Intelligence committees, for example, have subpoenaed both Deutsche Bank and Capital One for documents related to the finances of Trump and his family. Trump has used both entities for financing in the past.

The case is currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit after a federal judge in Manhattan blocked an effort from Trump's attorneys to quash those subpoenas.

A separate effort from the House Oversight Committee, which is currently chaired by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, is seeking Trump's financial information from his personal accounting firm, Mazars. 

Trump has also sued to block that request, but has so far been unsuccessful in court. The Second Circuit recently upheld those subpoenas, though attorneys for Trump are moving to have their arguments reheard by more judges of the federal appellate court.

A third lawsuit was brought by Trump against New York Attorney General Letitia James and the House Ways and Means Committee over a new New York state law that would allow federal lawmakers to obtain copies of his state tax returns from the state Tax Department. 

That litigation, which is currently in federal court in Washington, D.C., is ongoing.

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