Officials increase estimate for care of border crossers

The Trump administration told lawmakers it probably will cost more to care for migrants crossing into the United States from Mexico than the $2.9 billion in emergency money requested two weeks ago.

In a White House letter released Saturday, acting budget chief Russell Vought said that “the situation has continued to deteriorate and is exceeding previous high-end estimates.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a separate letter that needs for the unaccompanied children account “could grow further and be closer to the worst-case scenario HHS had proposed be the basis for the supplemental request, which was $1.4 billion higher.”

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s lawyers are using a legal argument many scholars say is a sure loser as his team fights congressional attempts to investigate him. Yet they may end up delaying the investigations with their argument, and that could be a win in itself.

In lawsuits filed in New York and Washington, Trump is attempting to beat back subpoenas by Congress to get financial records from accountants and banks that do business with Trump and his family. His argument is that congressional Democrats have no “legitimate legislative purpose” in seeking his personal records.

Congressional investigations are legitimate only if there is legislation that might result from them, the lawsuits say in identical terms. “There is no possible legislation at the end of this tunnel,” both suits claim.

A federal judge in Washington has seemed unimpressed with Trump’s attempt to prevent Mazars

USA, an accountant for the president and

Trump Organization, from turning over subpoenaed records to Congress. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta held a hearing in the case this past week and could rule anytime on Trump’s request.

A hearing is set for Wednesday in federal court in New York in a lawsuit Trump, his business and family have filed against Deutsche Bank and Capital One to prevent them from complying with subpoenas from the House Financial Services and intelligence panels for banking and financial records.

The court argument is part of a White House strategy to resist all congressional oversight following special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. “Congressional investigations are intended to obtain information to aid in evaluating potential legislation, not to harass political opponents,” White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote in a letter to House members Wednesday.

Charles Tiefer, who served as a lawyer for Congress for 15 years, said lawyers have given up on making the kind of argument Trump’s lawyers are making. Tiefer, now a University of Baltimore School of Law professor, described the argument as “one of those medieval notions that are not taken very seriously now.”

But even if judges in both cases rule against Trump, the fight might take months or even years to resolve.

Ohio State law professor Peter M. Shane said Trump’s lawyers are “trying to run out the clock.”

Pat Cipollone