President Trump’s attorneys filed an appeal Friday to a federal judge’s decision not to intervene in congressional efforts to obtain financial records of the president, his children and his company. District Court Judge Edgardo Ramos in Manhattan ruled Wednesday in the case, which cleared the way for House Democrats to receive documents from Deutsche Bank and Capital One that were subpoenaed by House Financial Services and Intelligence committees as part of their investigations into Trump’s personal and business finances. Earlier this week, Trump’s attorneys appealed a decision by another federal judge in Washington who similarly ruled against blocking Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, from releasing financial records to the House Oversight Committee. [Trump’s deny-and-delay strategy suffers a series of setbacks]In seeking a preliminary injunction of the congressional subpoenas, Trump’s legal team said they were “invalid and unenforceable because they have no legitimate legislative purpose.” They also claimed the requests exceeded the committee’s authority because the documents include years when Trump was a private citizen. Ramos disagreed, saying the Trumps were “unlikely to succeed on merits of their claims,” and calling their attempt to block the subpoenas not “serious.”In explaining his decision, Ramos said, “propriety of legislative motives is not a question left to the courts,” but rather “left to voters.”

Source: Washington Post May 24, 2019 17:03 UTC