Court sympathetic to House in records fight with president

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court seemed inclined Friday to side with a House committee seeking some of President Donald Trump’s financial records as part of an investigation, a disclosure he is fighting.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard more than two hours of arguments in the case Friday.

It seemed that at least two of the judges were inclined to side with the Democratic- led House committee, which in April issued a subpoena for records from Mazars USA, which has provided accounting services to Trump. A lower court previously ordered the records turned over, but Trump called the decision “crazy” and his lawyers appealed.

Trump has argued that the House Committee on Oversight and Reform seeking the records from Mazars is out to get him and lacks a legitimate “legislative purpose” for its request. His lawyers contend that congressional probes are valid only if there is legislation that might result from them.

The Oversight committee, for its part, has said it is seeking the Trump financial statements, accounting records and other documents, which cover the years 2011 to 2018, as part of i ts i nvestigation i nto whether the president has undisclosed conflicts of interests, whether he has accurately reported his finances and whether he may have engaged in illegal conduct before and during his time in office.

The committee says the House is considering legislation related to government conflicts of interest and presidential financial disclosures.