Accountants must turn over Trump’s financial records

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s accounting firm must turn over his financial records to Congress, a U.S. District Court judge ruled Monday, rejecting his legal team’s argument that lawmakers had no legitimate power to subpoena the files.

But Trump’s legal team is virtually certain to appeal the ruling rather than permit the firm, Mazar’s USA, to comply with the subpoena and the ruling, so the legal fight is far from over.

The ruling by Judge Am it P.M eh ta of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia was an early judicial test of the president’s vow to systematically stonewall “all” subpoenas by House Democrats, stymieing their ability to perform oversight of Trump and the executive branch after winning control of the chamber in last year’s midterm elections.

Trump’s legal team, led by William S. Consovoy, had argued that the House Oversight Committee had no legitimate legislative purpose in seeking Trump’s financial records and so the subpoena exceeded its constitutional authority.

Democrats have said they need the records because they are examining whether foreigners who have had business dealings with Trump are in a position to exert hidden influence over U.S. policymaking, and whether laws need to be strengthened to prevent that.

But Consovoy argued that Democrats were just trying to dig up dirt for political reasons and were trying to figure out whether Trump had broken any laws. He also argued that any law that Congress might try to pass regulating presidents’ financial affairs would be unconstitutional.

But Me ht a had appeared to signal initial skepticism about Consovoy’s arguments during a May 14 hearing, pointing to several past congressional inquiries — like the Watergate probe of President Richard Nixon and the Whitewater investigation of President Bill Clinton — that would seem to be illegitimate under the Trump legal team’s rationale.

The judge, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, also took steps to quickly reach a ruling without additional hearings or briefs, over the objections of Consovoy. The general counsel for the House of Representatives, Douglas Letter, had urged the judge to not let the Trump team drag out matters and run out the clock on Congress’ oversight powers.