Trump sues congressman in tussle over finance records

DONALD TRUMP and his businesses sued the Democratic chairman of the House Oversight committee yesterday to block a subpoena requesting the president’s financial records.

It is the latest move in a fierce dispute between the White House and Democrats in Congress amid allegations about the president’s finances.

In a court filing in Washington, the president’s lawyers argued that congressman Elijah Cummings “has no legislative purpose” to issue the subpoena and accused Democrats of using their majority in Congress to harass the president.

“The Democratic Party, with its newfound control of the US House of Representatives, has declared all-out political war against President Donald J Trump,” the lawsuit stated. “Subpoenas are their weapon of choice.”

The lawsuit asked the court to block a subpoena issued to Mr Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars, last week demanding several years of the president’s financial statements.

The lawsuit, which will be fiercely contested in court, follows a string of moves in recent weeks by Mr Trump and his businesses to block the Democrats from getting their hands on his financial records.

Michael Cohen, Mr Trump’s longtime former lawyer, told Congress that the president had inflated his company’s assets to obtain a loan in a failed attempt to buy the Buffalo Bills football team. Cohen, who has pleaded guilty to several crimes including tax fraud and lying to Congress in 2017, submitted portions of documents called “statements of financial condition” to the House Oversight committee before his testimony in February.