A federal judge on Monday denied President Trump’s request to delay the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena for his financial records, stating that the committee had “facially valid legislative purposes” for requesting the documents.
U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta stated that in his opinion, the committee’s reasoning to subpoena accounting firm Mazars USA for documents related to Trump’s finances—including “strengthening ethics and disclosure laws” and “monitoring the President’s compliance with the Foreign Emoluments Clauses”—were valid purposes for requesting such material. “Congress plainly views itself as having sweeping authority to investigate illegal conduct of a President, before and after taking office,” Mehta wrote. “This court is not prepared to roll back the tide of history.”
Mehta also ruled that Trump was “subject to the same legal standard as any other litigant” despite the case involving “private and business affairs of the President of the United States.” This latest ruling comes after Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) said he would file a “friendly subpoena” to to Mazars USA after it agreed to hand over the Trump-related documents.
“Today’s decision is a resounding victory for the rule of law and our Constitutional system of checks and balances,” Cummings said in a statement Monday, adding that Trump must “stop engaging in this unprecedented cover-up and start complying with the law.” Trump told reporters the ruling was made by a “Obama-appointed judge,” and claimed the Democrats were “trying to get a redo or a do-over” of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
