Trump, his children, and his businesses sue Deutsche Bank, Capital One in bid to thwart House subpoenas

(Image credit: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 30 April 2019

Lawyers representing President Trump, his three grown children, and seven Trump Organization companies filed a suit late Monday in a bid to prevent Deutsche Bank and Capital One from complying with congressional subpoenas. Two weeks ago, the House Financial Services Committee and House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed the two banks, requesting information reportedly including potential evidence of money laundering by people in Russia and Eastern Europe.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, is the latest bid by Trump to shield his personal and business financial records from House Democrats and the public. He has already asked the Treasury Department not to hand over his tax returns and sued his accounting firm and House Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) to thwart another subpoena.

Monday's lawsuit argues that the House subpoenas "have no legitimate or lawful purpose" and instead are meant to "harass" Trump and "cause him political damage." In a statement, Trump's lawyers Marc Mukasey and Patrick Strawbridge called the subpoenas a "sweeping, lawless, invasion of privacy."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Claiming the House subpoenas are illegitimate or politically motivated is a "frivolous argument, even if it's true," Stanford Law professor David Alan Sklansky tells The Washington Post. "That is not a basis for quashing a subpoena," and in fact, "that's how subpoena power works — it's about getting information that people would like to be kept private." Still, while "this isn't a close legal question," he added, it could delay the House investigation.

The heads of the House committees, Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), called the lawsuit "meritless" and "only designed to put off meaningful accountability as long as possible." A Deutsche Bank spokeswoman said the German bank, Trump's largest known lender, remains "committed to providing appropriate information to all authorized investigations and will abide by a court order regarding such investigations."

Explore More

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.