NEW YORK — A Manhattan prosecutor trying to get President Donald Trump’s tax returns told a judge that he was justified in demanding them, citing public reports of “extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization.”

Trump’s lawyers last month said the grand jury subpoena for the tax returns was issued in bad faith and amounted to harassment of the president.

Manhattan District Attorney District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., is seeking eight years of the Republican president’s personal and corporate tax records, but has disclosed little about what prompted him to request the records, other than part of the investigation is related to payoffs made to women to keep them quiet about alleged affairs with Trump.