A federal judge has ruled that Donald Trump’s accounting firm must turn over financial records to a Congressional committee, the first legal defeat as the Trump camp tries to block further inquiries into Trump-Russia links and Trump’s tax and financial matters.
Judge Amit Mehta, of the US District Court in the District of Columbia, ruled that Mazars USA must provide six years of financial statements to the House Oversight Committee.
In March, Oversight Committee chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings said Mazars would cooperate with a “friendly subpoena” for the documents. But Trump’s lawyers intervened, insisting that the subpoena be resisted.
Mehta rejected arguments from Trump’s attorney that the Oversight Committee’s demands were overly broad and served no legitimate legislative function.
““It is simply not fathomable that a Constitution that grants Congress the power to remove a President for reasons including criminal behavior would deny Congress the power to investigate him for unlawful conduct — past or present — even without formally opening an impeachment inquiry.”
Mazars said in a statement that it will “respect the legal process and fully comply with its legal obligations.”
But Trump pledged to appeal the “crazy” ruling, “We think it’s totally the wrong decision by, obviously, an Obama-appointed judge.”
Rep. Cummings hailed the ruling:
“[It] lets America know that we have ground to stand on and that we have a legitimate argument and the courts support them….I’m glad it was a strong decision; that bodes well, hopefully, in the future for an appeals process.”
Trump’s Stonewalling
White House and Trump lawyers are trying to block subpoenas for testimony and documents on multiple fronts from Democratic-controlled House Committees.
Attorney General William Barr is facing a contempt of Congress charge, as he refuses to provide legislators with unredacted copies of the Mueller Report on Trump-Russia contacts and Trump’s obstruction of justice. Barr is also balking at testifying before the House Judiciary Committee.
The Treasury is refusing to give up six years of Trump’s tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee. Trump’s lawyers have filed in court to prevent disclosure of his loans from Deutsche Bank and Capital One.
On Sunday, it was revealed that Deutsche Bank executives blocked the handover to Federal agencies of documents about suspect transactions by Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and their companies and the Trump Foundation in 2016-17. They included business with Russian actors during the Trump Presidential campaign.
On Monday, the Trump camp directed White House counsel Donald McGahn to defy any subpoena for testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.
McGahn is a central figure in Trump’s obstruction or attempted obstruction of justice, as set out in the Mueller Report. Trump ordered the counsel to ensure the firing of Special Counsel Robert Mueller in June 2017. After the incident was revealed in early 2018, Trump directed McGahn to deny that any order had been issued.
Judge Mehta ruled that, at least in the Mazars case, the tactics are unacceptable: “Congress plainly views itself as having sweeping authority to investigate illegal conduct of a President, before and after taking office. This court is not prepared to roll back the tide of history.”
He gave the White House a week to appeal: “The President is subject to the same legal standard as any other litigant that does not prevail.”
