Donald Trump’s financial records must be turned over to Congress, appeal court rules
- House oversight committee subpoenaed documents from accounting firm Mazars in April
- Case is one of several in which Trump is battling to keep lawmakers from getting their hands on his financial and tax records
The ruling, by a divided three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals in Washington, means Trump will lose control of his long-secret financial records at Mazars USA LLP unless the full court reconsiders the decision or the US Supreme Court blocks it.
In their 2-1 decision, the judges rejected arguments made by lawyers for the president that the House Oversight and Reform Committee had no legitimate legislative reason to seek the information.
“Disputes between Congress and the president are a recurring plot in our national story,” US Circuit Judge David Tatel wrote in the majority’s 66-page opinion. “And that is precisely what the Framers intended.”
He quoted the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who said that the purpose of the separation of powers was “to save the people from autocracy”.
The ruling, which does not take effect for at least seven days, comes shortly after a federal judge in New York rejected Trump’s challenge to a separate, state subpoena requiring Mazars to turn over Trump’s tax filings and other financial records to New York prosecutors – though the president won a last-minute delay pending an emergency appeal.