Trump sues Oversight Committee chairman to block subpoena of financial records

President Donald Trump on Monday sued House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings to block a subpoena of the president’s financial records from an accounting firm, escalating tensions between the White House and congressional Democrats who are investigating his business empire.

In a new court filing, Trump’s attorneys asked for a court order to block Cummings’ subpoena to Mazars USA. The Democratic lawmaker is attempting to obtain eight years of the president’s financial records from Mazars, which had asked the committee for a so-called “friendly” subpoena so that it could comply with the request.

Story Continued Below

“We will not allow congressional presidential harassment to go unanswered,” Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said in a statement Monday.

The committee is investigating allegations from Trump’s former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen that the president at times artificially inflated and deflated his assets for his personal benefit. Cummings requested similar documents last month from financial giant Capital One, which also asked for a “friendly” subpoena.

Republicans have contended that the investigation is solely meant to embarrass Trump, and they said the subpoena to Mazars — which Cummings formally issued last week — amounts to an abuse of power. The White House has refused to comply with various congressional demands for documents and witness testimony on a host of subjects including Trump’s tax returns and the White House’s security clearance process.

Trump’s filing Monday morning in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia reams Democrats for their myriad investigations targeting Trump, his presidential campaign and his business empire. The filing comes a week after attorneys William Consovoy and Stefan Passantino threatened legal action against Mazars’ outside counsel if the company complied with the subpoena.

“Instead of working with the president to pass bipartisan legislation that would actually benefit Americans, House Democrats are singularly obsessed with finding something they can use to damage the president politically,” the filing states.

The filing also says Democrats are seeking to disclose Trump’s “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.”

After initially remaining largely silent as Democrats ramped up their various investigations, the president’s attorneys have gone on the offensive in recent weeks to push back against House Democrats.

“The committee’s attempt to obtain years’ worth of confidential information from their accountants lacks any legitimate legislative purpose, is an abuse of power, and is just another example of overreach by the president’s political opponents. We look forward to vindicating our clients’ rights in this matter,” Consovoy and Passantino said in a statement.

When he testified to the Oversight panel in February, Cohen provided copies of Trump’s financial statements, which Cohen said were sent to Deutsche Bank in 2014 to seek a loan to buy the Buffalo Bills football team. Cohen said Trump inflated the value of his assets in order to secure a loan as part of his ultimately unsuccessful bid to purchase the team.