A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that Deutsche Bank must comply with subpoenas from House Democrats to turn over documents pertaining to President Trump’s finances.
Deutsche Bank is Trump’s biggest lender, and records from the bank would reveal extensive information about his business dealings and partners. Democrats have also subpoenaed Capital One for Trump’s financial records with the bank, in a court case that is still ongoing.
Trump has sued both banks to block release of the records.
“The [House] committees’ interests in pursuing their constitutional legislative function is a far more significant public interest than whatever public interest inheres in avoiding the risk of a Chief Executive’s distraction arising from disclosure of documents reflecting his private financial transactions,” read the ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The court gave Trump’s legal team seven days to appeal.
The court also ruled that any disclosure of documents should be done in such a way as to protect the personal information of anyone not directly related to the investigation into Trump’s business dealings, such as checks signed by Trump or his associates to pay for employee medical expenses.
House Democrats have sought to force Trump to reveal his tax returns through the courts. Meanwhile, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance subpoenaed Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars LLP, for the President’s financial records to investigate whether Trump violated New York State campaign finance laws during the 2016 presidential elections.
The Supreme Court ruled in a separate case on November 26 that Trump is not required to release his financial records while the court decided whether to deliberate on the case.