Dec. 3 (UPI) — A federal appeals court ruled against President Donald Trump on Tuesday, saying financial institutions that are holding his financial records must comply with a subpoena and turn them over to Democratic investigators in the House.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals said Deutsche Bank and Capital One must hand over years of fiscal documents involving Trump, his adult children and his private company. Trump argued that as president he’s protected from criminal prosecution and that congressional investigations into financial dealings dating back to 2010 “have no legitimate legislative purpose.”
He’d also argued that releasing his financial records violates his right to privacy.
The court disagreed, saying a release is in the ‘public interest.”
“The [House] committees’ interests in pursuing their constitutional legislative function is a far more significant public interest than whatever public interest inheres in avoiding the risk of a chief executive’s distraction arising from disclosure of documents reflecting his private financial transactions,” Tuesday’s 165-page ruling said.
The case stems from subpoenas issued by the House intelligence and financial services committees as part of their investigation of Russian money laundering and potential U.S. influence. Trump answered by suing Deutsche Bank and Capital One to keep them from handing the records over. A federal court declined to block the subpoenas in May.
Most experts believe the case will end up before the Supreme Court, where Trump has already won temporary rulings to keep his longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA, from giving his tax returns to investigators.
