TRUMP LAWYERS appeal “all aspects” of ruling on turning over financial records.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s lawyers on Tuesday notified a federal judge that they have appealed “all aspects” of a Monday ruling that the president’s accounting firm must turn over his financial records to Congress.

The two-page notice filed in federal court in Washington marks the latest move in a gathering legal battle over Congress’ oversight powers.

“Plaintiffs … hereby appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit all aspects of this Court’s order and opinion from May 20, 2019,” stated lawyers for Trump, the Trump Organization and several related companies in the notice to U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta.

Mehta, in a 41-page ruling Monday, rejected arguments from the president’s lawyers that the House Oversight Committee’s demands for the records from Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, were overly broad and served no legitimate legislative function.

“It is simply not fathomable,” the judge wrote, “that a Constitution that grants Congress the power to remove a President for reasons including criminal behavior would deny Congress the power to investigate him for unlawful conduct — past or present — even without formally opening an impeachment inquiry.”

It was not immediately clear how quickly the appeals court would schedule briefings and oral arguments. The court’s calendar lists only one argument through the summer. But the court can add cases as needed before a three-judge panel “if the case is important enough or requires quick disposition,” D.C. Circuit Clerk Mark Langer said Tuesday.

It also would be up to circuit judges whether to put the committee subpoena on hold pending consideration of Trump’s appeal.

Mehta denied Trump’s bid to block the subpoena while his lawsuit filed April 22 continues, and went further by rendering a final decision to speed consideration by the appeals court.

Mehta had refused to stay his order to comply with the subpoena beyond seven days to allow time for an appeal, but Trump’s lawyers acted within hours. Speaking to reporters on Monday after the ruling, Trump called the opinion “crazy” and said he would appeal, adding, “We think it’s totally the wrong decision by, obviously, [a President Barack] Obama-appointed judge.”

Kerry Kircher, who served as House general counsel from 2011 to 2016 and deputy general counsel from 1995 to 2010, said Tuesday that he was not surprised by Mehta’s order or how quickly the judge moved. And he said there “is a very good chance these records end up in Congress’ hands” by 2020 because courts have so often upheld congressional investigative powers over executive branch and private party challenges.

“Congress has broad oversight,” Kircher said, “and it plays a very important role in the way our government operates, and courts have recognized that for decades and decades.”

The Mazars case could move quickly, because the executive branch has far fewer tools to resist congressional subpoenas that target documents from private companies, than it has when asserting executive privilege to prevent aides from testifying, said Andy Wright, a former Obama associate White House counsel and House Oversight Committee staff director from 2007 to 2011.

He added, “It is possible, if Judge Mehta’s reasoning holds, that both the D.C. circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court could resolve this within the next five weeks in an adverse way to President Trump. So that’s pretty fast.” Information for this article was contributed by Ann E. Marimow of