In a Wednesday filing, House Democrats requested the U.S. Supreme Court permit them to enforce congressional subpoenas for President Donald Trump’s financial records, noting that the information was necessary to protect the 2020 election from foreign interference.
House attorneys argued (pdf) that any harm to the president and his businesses for complying with the subpoena would not be as severe as harm caused to the House and the American public gaining access so that Congress could “exercise its constitutional functions.”
The attorneys argued that the president’s financial data was important to allow Democrats to determine of new legislation is needed to protect against threats from foreign election interference.
“Legislative efforts to secure the financial system from abuse have obvious importance. And nothing is more urgent than efforts to guard against foreign influence in our systems for electing officials, particularly given the upcoming 2020 elections,” the attorneys wrote in the filing.
Trump has said that hie tax returns are under audit by the IRS. He and his legal team have also argued in various federal courts that his tax records and business financial records should not be made public for political gain.
The Democrat attorneys filed their motion in response to a hold placed by the top court on a Dec. 6 ruling by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ordering two banks that have done business with the president, Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp., to release Trump’s financial documents to two House Committees.
The emergency appeal by the Democrat majority stems from subpoenas issued by the House Financial Services and House Intelligence committees in April.