Trump sues in bid to block subpoena from US Congress for financial information

President Donald Trump, joined by the Easter Bunny, speaks from the Truman Balcony of the White House in Washington during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. Picture: Alex Brandon/AP

President Donald Trump, joined by the Easter Bunny, speaks from the Truman Balcony of the White House in Washington during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. Picture: Alex Brandon/AP

Published Apr 22, 2019

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Washington - US President Donald Trump

sued on Monday to block a subpoena issued by the Democratic

chairman of the US House Oversight Committee that sought

information about his personal and business finances.

The suit, the first salvo in what promises to be an

escalating legal battle over efforts to investigate Trump by the

Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress, alleged Democrats have

launched "all-out political war" on Trump and subpoenas "are

their weapon of choice."

The committee's subpoena had sought eight years of documents

from Mazars USA, an accounting firm long used by Trump to

prepare financial statements, related to its investigation of

allegations Trump inflated or deflated financial statements for

potentially improper purposes.

Elijah Cummings, the House Oversight Committee chairman,

issued the subpoena to the president's accountant after Trump's

former lawyer, Michael Cohen, testified to Congress in February

that Trump had misrepresented his net worth.

"Chairman Cummings' subpoena is invalid and unenforceable

because it has no legitimate legislative purpose," Trump's

lawyers said in a filing.

"Its goal is to expose Plaintiffs’ private financial

information for the sake of exposure, with the hope that it will

turn up something that Democrats can use as a political tool

against the President now and in the 2020 election," they said.

The filing is the first effort by Trump's legal team to

quash multiple investigations by Democratic-led committees in

Congress of Trump and his finances. His lawyers made it clear

they would resist those efforts.

"Democrats are using their new control of congressional

committees to investigate every aspect of President Trump’s

personal finances, businesses, and even his family," Trump's

lawyers said.

"Instead of working with the President to pass bipartisan

legislation that would actually benefit Americans, Democrats are

singularly obsessed with finding something they can use to

damage the President politically," they said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for

comment, and the U.S. House Oversight Committee did not

immediately have a response.

The filing said Democrats have issued more than 100

subpoenas and requests "to anyone with even the most tangential

connection to the President."

Reuters

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