JUST IN: Federal Appeals Court Rejects Trump’s Attempt to Block Subpoena For His Financial Records
by Cristina LailaOctober 11, 2019
A federal appeals court rejected President Trump’s attempt to block a House subpoena in a 2-1 ruling.
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform subpoenaed records from Trump’s accounting firm Mazars USA.
The one judge who dissented, Judge Neomi Rao, was appointed by Trump.
The other two judges who voted to deny Trump’s appeal to block the subpoena were appointed by Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Judge David Tatel was appointed by Bill Clinton, and Judge Paticia Millett was appointed by Barack Obama.
CNBC reported:
The 2-1 ruling by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a federal district judge’s decision denying Trump’s effort to stop the committee from getting eight years’ worth of his financial records from the accounting firm Mazars USA.
“Contrary to the President’s arguments, the Committee possesses authority under both the House Rules and the Constitution to issue the subpoena, and Mazars must comply,” Tatel wrote in the majority opinion.
Tatel also said that “we conclude that in issuing the challenged subpoena, the Committee was engaged in a ‘legitimate legislative investigation.’”
The ruling does not mean that Trump’s financial records will immediately be released to the committee, which had issued its subpoena on April 15.
The appeals panel ordered that the effect of the ruling be put on hold until seven days after the disposition of a petition for a rehearing of the case by either the same panel or by the entire D.C. Circuit judges.
President Trump may take this case all the way up to the Supreme Court.
“We are reviewing the opinion and evaluating all appellate options,” Trump’s personal lawyer Jay Sekulow said.