A federal judge in New York has set the schedule for the fight over congressional subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and Capital One seeking President Donald Trump’s past financial records.
The subpoenas, from Democratic-led House committees, will be paused while the court case plays out in Manhattan. A court hearing is scheduled for May 22.
The court fight comes at a time that the Democratic-led House of Representatives is attempting to bore into alleged improprieties in Trump’s business history – and Trump’s private legal team is trying to hold them off.
A similar lawsuit seeking to stop congressional investigators from getting the financial records of a business in political crosshairs failed last year in a Washington court, and House lawyers have called at least one of Trump’s recent attempts to stop a congressional subpoena a delay tactic that wasn’t supported by the law.
The President, three of his children – Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka – and his businesses filed suit Monday to stop the subpoenas to the banks. Attorneys representing the House are now expected to jump in to fight the Trump suit in New York.
Trump and his companies have separately sued the House and an accounting firm in Washington, DC’s federal court to stop another congressional subpoena for his financial records. That case is moving more quickly, with a court hearing scheduled for May 14.
On Wednesday, lawyers representing the House wrote in a filing for the Washington case regarding the accounting firm, Mazars USA, that Trump’s arguments were “blatantly inconsistent” with the law.
“Congress’s power to conduct oversight and investigations is firmly rooted in the separation of powers that undergirds our Constitutional framework,” the House attorneys wrote.
In the complaint filed against the banks, Trump’s attorneys said the subpoenas “were issued to harass” the President and “to ferret about for any material that might be used to cause him political damage.” The Trump team claims the House investigations are outside of congress’ Constitutional authority and could violate financial privacy law.
The subpoenas to the banks and the accounting firm were issued in early April by three separate House committee chairs, including from the House Intelligence and Financial Services committees, which are led by Reps. Adam Schiff and Maxine Waters, both of whom are California Democrats.
The subpoena to Deutsche Bank is for “records and/or information related to banking activities, including information regarding accounts, financings and related financial information” of Trump, his children and his companies, according to Trump’s legal team. And the subpoena to the accounting firm Mazars demands similarly comprehensive records of Trump’s financial history, including audits, annual financial statements and even communications between Trump’s companies and the firm from the past decade, the lawyers wrote.
Trump’s attorneys said conversations with the two banks revealed that the committees are seeking all banking and financial records “not just concerning the individual Plaintiffs, but also their own family members,” including children and in some cases grandchildren, according to the lawsuit.
Deutsche Bank said in a statement it will comply with all subpoenas and court orders.
CNN’s Cristina Alesci and Devan Cole contributed to this report.