Fight for Trump financial records prompts appeals on both sides

WASHINGTON (CN) — Donald Trump and the House Oversight Committee brought dueling appeals Wednesday after a federal judge ordered accountants for the former president to turn over two years of his tax and financial records. 

U.S. District Judge Amita Mehta approved the committee’s subpoena a week ago, but only for Trump's financial records from 2017-18. In a partial victory and partial loss to both Trump and the committee, Mehta denied the committee’s request for similar records from 2011–16.

Mehta said that the subpoena to Trump’s accounting firm Mazars was “undeniably broad” and “invasive.” 

“In the current polarized political climate, it is not difficult to imagine the incentives a Congress would have to threaten or influence a sitting president with a similarly robust subpoena, issued after he leaves office, in order to ‘aggrandize itself at the president’s expense,’” the Obama appointee wrote in his 53-page ruling, citing a Supreme Court decision last year that said that the lower courts were too quick to side with the committee. 

In their 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court majority instructed the lower courts to scrutinize Congress’ need for subpoenaed information and more cautiously balance the interests of all of the executive and legislative branches.

“In the court’s view, this not-insignificant risk to the institution of the presidency outweighs the Committee’s incremental legislative need for the material subpoenaed from Mazars,” Mehta wrote, with the Supreme Court decision in mind. 

The House Oversight Committee is one of several that has been seeking access to the records for years, in this case with lawmakers saying they need the records to consider new legislation on presidential financial disclosures — as Trump was the first president in over 40 years to not release his financial and tax records on the campaign trail.

Mehta said that the committee isn’t entitled to the records to determine whether the law should be changed, but recognized that it has presented substantial evidence that Trump received foreign payments throughout his presidency. 

“The committee therefore is not engaged in a baseless fishing expedition,” Mehta wrote. “It has presented the requisite degree of evidence to substantiate the committee’s legislative purpose.”

Trump’s withholding of his financial records is also at the underpinning of a Manhattan grand jury probe and another court fight involving the House Ways and Means Committee. In the latter case, Chair Richard Neal claims he should have access to six years of Trump’s taxes to determine if the IRS is adequately auditing presidents. 

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