US Appeals Court rules Trump financial records must be turned over to House Oversight Committee

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday that former President Donald Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA LLP, must turn over some financial records pertaining to the time period surrounding his 2016 election, as well as his time in the White House, to the Democrat-controlled House Oversight Committee.

The court largely upheld a congressional subpoena for the records, meaning the committee can now obtain documents related to allegations that Trump may have broken the Constitution’s “emoluments” clause, which would have prevented him from accepting payments from foreign governments without approval from Congress, or violated other financial disclosure laws.

The ruling also said, according to Reuters, that the committee could only ask for documents related to potential legislation it was considering. It specifically pointed to the “overbroad” scope of the subpoena concerning some of the records it had requested, which included some related to the former Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., now the Waldorf Astoria.

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The subpoena for the records was first issued by the committee in 2019, sparking a legal challenge from Trump, who argued the probe was politically motivated, Reuters reported.

In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court said that House Democrats needed to further explain their desire for the records, while last year, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta found that Trump’s firm should turn over some, but not all the financial records sought by the committee.

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The appeals court also noted that Trump has the right to continue fighting the subpoena, meaning the legal battle will likely continue.