A federal appeals court said Deutsche Bank must turn over detailed documents about President Donald Trump’s finances to two congressional committees, a ruling that will most likely be appealed to the Supreme Court.
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The decision was the latest victory for House Democrats investigating Trump and his businesses. And it put extensive information about Trump’s personal and business finances — which the president has spent years fighting to keep secret — one step closer to becoming public.
What it means
The decision is the latest this year by a federal court to uphold the broad powers of Congress to investigate the president.
Democratic-controlled congressional committees issued subpoenas to two banks — Deutsche Bank, long Trump’s biggest lender, and Capital One — this year for financial records related to the president, his companies and his family. Trump sued the banks to block them from complying.
The requests for documents from Deutsche Bank are notable because of the breadth of financial information they could provide about Trump and his business dealings.
Deutsche Bank became Trump’s main lender after a string of bankruptcies and loan defaults cost other banks hundreds of millions of dollars.
Credit: Natasha Livingstone
Credit: Natasha Livingstone
During the last two decades, the German bank lent him and his companies a total of well over $2 billion.
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The bank’s files would most likely contain a rich trove of documents including details about how he made his money, who his partners have been, the terms of his extensive borrowings and other transactions.
The court’s ruling also comes at a perilous time for Trump, who is facing an unrelated impeachment inquiry in the Democratic-controlled House.
What subpoenas seek
The subpoenas, issued in April by the House Financial Services and Intelligence committees, sought nearly a decade’s worth of tax returns and other financial documents that the banks obtained from Trump, his family and his companies. The subpoenas also demanded information about any suspicious activities that Deutsche Bank detected in Trump’s accounts.
Investigators for the two committees are hoping the materials will shed light on any links Trump has had to foreign governments and whether he or his companies were involved in any illegal activity, such as money laundering for people overseas.
The committees have also said the information is important to their attempts to craft legislation. Trump’s lawyers have argued the subpoenas served no legitimate legislative purpose and were overly broad. Spokesmen for the committees had no immediate comment.
Previously
Trump, who broke with decades of tradition by refusing to release his tax returns during the 2016 campaign, has already turned to the Supreme Court in an effort to fend off other government investigations into his personal finances.
In two similar cases, the president has asked the Supreme Court to overrule lower courts and to block attempts to review his finances. Last month, the Supreme Court issued a temporary stay related to a subpoena that the House Oversight and Reform Committee issued in April. Trump has also filed a petition seeking review of a request from prosecutors in Manhattan who are seeking information from his accounting firm, Mazars USA.
What's next
Trump’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, said in a statement that “we are evaluating our next options including seeking review at the Supreme Court of the United States.” He called the congressional subpoenas “invalid as issued.”
Trump has seven days to seek a further delay from the high court before the banks must comply.
— This report was compiled by ArLuther Lee / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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