Trump Appeals Ruling Allowing Banks to Hand His Financial Records to Congress

NEW YORK (Reuters) —
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on a range of issues in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, May 23, 2019. (Reuters/Carlos Barria)

President Donald Trump, three of his children and the Trump Organization on Friday appealed a court order allowing Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp to hand their financial records over to Democratic lawmakers.

They are asking the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan to overrule U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos, who on Wednesday refused to block the banks from responding to subpoenas issued last month by two U.S. House of Representatives committees.

“We remain committed to providing appropriate information to all authorized investigations and will abide by a court order regarding such investigations,” Deutsche Bank spokeswoman Kerrie McHugh said in an emailed statement.

Capital One, the House Financial Services Committee and House Intelligence Committee did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The committees have agreed not to enforce the subpoenas for seven days after Wednesday’s ruling.

The Republican president, who is seeking re-election next year, has aggressively sought to defy congressional oversight of his administration since Democrats took control of the House in January.

Some parts of the subpoenas have been included in court filings. The subpoena on Deutsche Bank, issued by both committees, seeks extensive records of accounts, transactions and investments linked to Trump, his three oldest children, their immediate family members and several Trump Organization entities, as well as records of ties they might have to foreign entities.

Deutsche Bank has long been a principal lender for Trump’s real estate business and a 2017 disclosure form showed that Trump had at least $130 million of liabilities to the bank.

The subpoena on Capital One, issued by the Financial Services Committee, seeks records related to multiple entities tied to the Trump Organization’s hotel business.

In March, before issuing their subpoena, Democratic lawmakers asked Capital One for documents concerning potential conflicts of interest tied to Trump’s Washington hotel and other business interests since he became president in January 2017.

In asking Ramos to block the subpoenas on Wednesday, a lawyer for the Trumps argued that they exceeded the authority of Congress and were “the epitome of an inquiry into private or personal matters.”

Ramos, however, found that they were allowed under the broad authority of Congress to conduct investigations to further legislation.

Ramos’ ruling came just two days after a federal judge in Washington ruled against the president in a similar case, finding that Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars LLP, must comply with a congressional subpoena for Trump’s financial records.

To Read The Full Story

Are you already a subscriber?
Click to log in!