Democrats urge U.S. Supreme Court not to protect Trump financial records
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[November 22, 2019]
By Lawrence Hurley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Democratic-led
U.S. congressional committee and a Democratic prosecutor in New York on
Thursday urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to prevent President Donald
Trump's longtime accounting firm from handing over his financial
records.
The House of Representatives Oversight Committee's filing followed
Trump's request last week that the justices put on hold a ruling by the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that Mazars
LLP must comply with the panel's subpoena for financial records Trump
has sought to keep secret.
Separately, Manhattan prosecutor Cyrus Vance asked the Supreme Court not
to block release of eight years of Trump's tax returns sought in a
criminal investigation in New York, as ordered by lower courts. Trump
has broken with decades of tradition by refusing to disclose his tax
records as a candidate and as president, seeking to keep details of his
finances confidential.
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The Republican president said on Thursday he will release a statement on
his finances before the 2020 presidential election, and asserted that it
was up to him whether to provide such data.
Both cases represent an important showdown over the power of the
presidency even as Trump faces an impeachment inquiry in the House.
The Oversight Committee has said the material it seeks is needed to
determine whether Trump complied with laws requiring disclosure of his
assets and to assess whether changes are needed in those laws.
On Monday, Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily put the matter on hold
while the Supreme Court decides how to proceed.
The committee's lawyers said Trump is seeking to halt the functions of a
co-equal branch of government "by restraining a valid congressional
inquiry and quashing a subpoena issued to a private accounting firm.
That request should be denied."
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President Donald Trump speaks during a tour of Apple's Mac Pro
manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas, U.S., November 20, 2019.
REUTERS/Tom Brenner
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If the court does decide to hear the case, it should issue a ruling
during its current term that ends in June, the committee's lawyers
added.
The Supreme Court could act on Trump's request in the case at any
time.
In the New York case, Trump last week asked the Supreme Court to
review a federal appeals court's ruling that Vance can enforce a
subpoena to Mazars demanding Trump's personal and corporate tax
returns from 2011 to 2018.
Trump's lawyers have argued in the case for broad presidential
immunity from any criminal investigation while he is in office.
Vance said in court papers the case does not concern Trump's role as
president and hinges on his "private interest in seeking his own and
others' immunity from an ordinary investigation of financial
improprieties independent of official duties."
The justices are not likely to decide whether to hear the New York
case until at least next month.
The court has a 5-4 conservative majority, including two justices
appointed by Trump.
(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)
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