A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled Monday in favor of a congressional subpoena that seeks financial documents from President Donald Trump, thus dealing the president a major blow in his efforts to block this action.
District Judge Amit Mehta stated in a 41-page ruling that Trump can not block the subpoena from the Democratic-led House Oversight Committee, headed by its chairman, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland).
Trump’s lawyers had maintained that the subpoena was unconstitutional due to its lack of links to pending legislation. The House panel’s legal team countered by saying the committee is issuing the subpoena in order to determine whether or not Trump and his businesses violated the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause.
“These are facially valid legislative purposes, and it is not for the court to question whether the Committee’s actions are truly motivated by political considerations,” Mehta wrote.
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The judge continued: “The court is well aware that this case involves records concerning the private and business affairs of the President of the United States. But on the question of whether to grant a stay pending appeal, the President is subject to the same legal standard as any other litigant that does not prevail.”
Trump’s effort to block this subpoena comes just as news broke of another attempt by the president to stop congressional investigations into him. It was also reported Monday that Trump asked former White House counsel Don McGahn to not testify before lawmakers, who have also issued a subpoena to McGahn as part of their efforts to obtain more information from a key witness in Trump’s alleged efforts to commit obstruction of justice in special counsel Robert Mueller‘s probe on Russian interference in the 2016 election.
See the full court order on the judge’s ruling here:
Court order ruling Trump ca… by on Scribd
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