Hearing Set in Trump Fight Over Bank Subpoenas

Congress has agreed to postpone a deadline for two banks to respond to subpoenas for Donald Trump’s financial records after the president filed a lawsuit this week seeking to block them from responding.

U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos on Wednesday set a hearing on President Trump’s lawsuit for May 22 in New York City. In the meantime, lawyers for Congressional Democrats agreed to allow the banks to delay their response to the subpoena until after Ramos rules.

Trump wants Deutsche Bank and Capital One barred from responding to subpoenas issued last month by two House committees that are demanding records as part of investigations into the Republican’s private business dealings.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said at the time that the subpoenas were part of an investigation “into allegations of potential foreign influence on the U.S. political process.”

He has said he wants to know whether Russians used laundered money for transactions with the Trump Organization. Trump’s businesses have benefited from Russian investment over the years.

In their lawsuit, President Trump, his family and his company contend that the subpoenas are unlawful and unenforceable.

Deutsche Bank has lent Trump’s real estate company millions of dollars over the years.

The bank has said it remains “committed to providing appropriate information to all authorized investigations and will abide by a court order regarding such investigations.”