Trump Pushes Back, Sues To Block Dem's Subpoena for Financial Records
President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization announced Monday morning that they will be taking legal action against the subpoena request issued by Democratic chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings.
On March 20, Cummings requested 10 years of the president’s financial records regarding his various business ventures from Mazars USA, an accounting firm owned by Trump.
The request was issued after former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s testimony in February, in which Cohen claimed Trump had misreported the net worth of his assets.
After the company rejected the information request, Cummings declared his intention to subpoena Trump’s businesses to gain access to annual statements, financial reports and even records of communication.
Now, Trump and his lawyers have pushed back.
“We will not allow Congressional Presidential harassment to go unanswered,” Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow told Fox News.
“The Democrat Party, with its newfound control of the U.S. House of Representatives, has declared all-out political war against President Donald J. Trump,” the complaint states.
According to the suit, Cummings is ignoring legal boundaries and stepping beyond “constitutional limits on Congress’ power to investigate.”
Additionally, the complaint argues that the subpoena lacks any “legitimate legislative purpose” and that the goal of this subpoena “is to expose Plaintiffs’ private financial information for the sake of exposure” in the hopes that “it will turn up something that Democrats can use as a political tool against the President now and in the 2020 election.”
“Chairman Cummings’ subpoena of Mazars lacks a legitimate legislative purpose,” the complaint reads. “There is no possible legislation at the end of this tunnel; indeed, the Chairman does not claim otherwise.”
Instead of working with Trump, Democrats are “obsessed” with finding “something they can use to damage the President politically,” according to the complaint.
Despite No Collusion, No Obstruction, The Radical Left Democrats do not want to go on to Legislate for the good of the people, but only to Investigate and waste time. This is costing our Country greatly, and will cost the Dems big time in 2020!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2019
“Subpoenas are their weapon of choice,” the complaint states of the more than 100 other subpoenas and requests that Democrats have issued to anyone with even a “tangential connection” to Trump. “Democrats are using their new control of congressional committees to investigate every aspect of President Trump’s personal finances, businesses, and even his family.”
The lawsuit argues that the subpoena is “invalid” and “unenforceable” because it requests financial information from when Trump was a private citizen and not a candidate for public office.
It also appeals for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to prevent Mazars from handing over the information.
William Consovoy, of Consovoy McCarthy Park PLLC, and Stefan Passantino, of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP are representing Trump in the suit.
“The Committee’s attempt to obtain years’ worth of confidential information from their accountants lacks any legitimate legislative purpose, is an abuse of power, and is just another example of overreach by the President’s political opponents,” the lawyers said in a statement to Fox News. “We look forward to vindicating our clients’ rights in this matter.’”
The committee set Tuesday as the deadline for Mazars to hand over Trump’s financial information.
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