Appeals Court Rules Against Trump on Subpoenas to Deutsche Bank, Capital One -- 2nd Update
December 03 2019 - 8:39PM
Dow Jones News
By Brent Kendall
A federal appeals court ruled House Democrats can enforce
subpoenas to two banks seeking a broad range of President Trump's
financial records, as well as those of his family and their
businesses.
The ruling marked the third time in recent weeks that appellate
judges have upheld subpoenas designed to open a window into Mr.
Trump's financial dealings. Unlike his predecessors, the president
has declined to release his tax returns, and he retains ownership
of private companies that do business with the government. Those
decisions have prompted high-stakes legal battles with
congressional committees and New York prosecutors.
The mounting legal losses have left Mr. Trump with few options,
and the Supreme Court now is likely the only body that stands
between the president and several major financial disclosures to
investigators.
The New York-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
on Tuesday rejected Mr. Trump's request to block subpoenas issued
by two House committees earlier this year to Deutsche Bank AG and
Capital One Financial Corp.
The subpoenas seek Trump bank and brokerage account records,
records on loans and lines of credit and documents from bank
employees that served the president and his family.
Mr. Trump has a longstanding relationship with Deutsche Bank.
Since 1998, the bank has led or participated in loans of at least
$2.5 billion to companies affiliated with Mr. Trump, The Wall
Street Journal has reported.
The Intelligence Committee is investigating efforts by foreign
entities to influence the U.S. political process, including whether
foreign actors have financial leverage over the Trump family and
its businesses. The Financial Services Committee is investigating
bank-lending practices, including for Mr. Trump and entities tied
to him.
The Second Circuit, in a divided ruling, said the committees had
valid and lawful purposes for seeking documents, even though the
information was about the Trump family's private financial and
business affairs.
"The public interest in vindicating the committee's
constitutional authority is clear and substantial," Judge Jon
Newman wrote for the majority in a 106-page opinion that was joined
by Judge Peter Hall.
The court did order some limited exceptions to the subpoenas in
order to prevent disclosure of sensitive personal information about
the Trump family.
The appeals court agreed to stay its ruling for a week in order
to give Mr. Trump the opportunity to seek emergency intervention
from the Supreme Court.
"We are evaluating our next options including seeking review at
the Supreme Court," said Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow, reiterating the
president's position that the subpoenas were invalid.
Mr. Trump's legal team has argued the subpoenas exceed the
boundaries of congressional power, seeking purely private
information that has no connection to possible legislation.
The committees, operating in the Democratic-controlled House,
have argued that Mr. Trump is seeking to impede legitimate
investigations into matters of national importance. The ruling "is
another in a long line of decisions strongly affirming a broad
power of Congress and its committees to obtain information in aid
of its legislative authority," Reps. Maxine Waters and Adam Schiff,
chairs of the Financial Services and Intelligence Committees, said
in a joint statement. Both are California Democrats.
Judge Debra Ann Livingston objected to core parts of the ruling
in a 59-page dissent, saying the subpoenas were "deeply troubling"
in their breadth and raised separation-of-powers concerns. She
would have required the House committees to provide additional
support for why the Trump financial records were pertinent to the
congressional investigations and should be disclosed.
The case is similar to one that has been litigated in
Washington, D.C., in which the House Oversight Committee has sought
records from Mr. Trump's longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA LLP.
That committee is examining White House ethics issues, including
whether the president is improperly profiting from his office.
Lower courts ruled against the president, but the Supreme Court
last month suspended that subpoena for now while the president
mounts a high court appeal.
Also pending before the high court is a separate Trump appeal
that seeks to challenge a subpoena Manhattan District Attorney
Cyrus Vance Jr. issued to Mazars for Trump financial records -- and
tax returns -- as part of a criminal investigation. Mr. Vance is
examining hush-money payments to two women who allege they had
affairs with Mr. Trump.
The Supreme Court could announce in the next few weeks whether
it will review those cases.
--Richard Rubin contributed to this article.
Write to Brent Kendall at brent.kendall@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 03, 2019 20:24 ET (01:24 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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