Donald Trump Sues Top Democrat To Block Subpoena Of Financial Records
WITN-TV reports that President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization are suing Democratic chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Representative Elijah Cummings, for a subpoena that his panel sent to Trump’s primary accounting firm that aims to gain years of financial records.
The lawsuit claims that Cummings “has no legitimate legislative purpose” and accuses Democrats of harassing the president and using their majority as a means to negatively affect his standing. It also claims that Cummings did not consult Republicans on the panel before issuing the subpoena. Finally, it suggests that the basis of the subpoena was Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, who told lawmakers in February that Trump’s financial statements contained inaccuracies.
“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 Cohen hearing was a partisan stunt, not a good-faith effort to obtain accurate testimony from a reliable witness,” the lawsuit reads elsewhere.
The accounting firm in question, Mazars USA, works for both the president and the Trump Organization.
Cummings announced the subpoena, which the Maryland Democrat calls a “friendly subpoena,” in a memo last week. He highlighted the fact that Mazars USA requested a subpoena from the committee before turning over the president’s financial records.
President Trump sues to block House Democrats from obtaining his financial records https://t.co/ioVSaJzjFv pic.twitter.com/xsdm5mMFMi
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) April 22, 2019
The subpoena requests the last 10 years of Trump’s financial records, per Business Insider. Cummings claims that the subpoena was issued based on Cohen’s testimony, but added that it was also issued due to “corroborating documents” that “raise grave questions about whether the President has been accurate in his financial reporting.”
Back in 2009, Trump told The Wall Street Journal that he was worth $5 billion excluding the value of the Trump brand, and a month later, his accountant released a financial statement putting his net worth “in excess of $3 billion.” Two years later, Trump bragged that he was worth more than $7 billion, and in May 2016, this number jumped to $10 billion.
But Trump has also admitted that the statements he makes about his wealth are not always factual. In 2007, Trump sued journalist Timothy O’Brien after he wrote in TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald that his actual net worth was $150 million to $250 million. However, the lawsuit was eventually thrown out, and Trump said in a deposition that his net worth fluctuated based on how he was feeling.
