President Donald Trump sued Democrat Elijah Cummings on Monday in an attempt to block a congressional subpoena for nearly a decade’s-worth of his financial…
President Donald Trump sued Democrat Elijah Cummings on Monday in an attempt to block a congressional subpoena for nearly a decade’s-worth of his financial records but it is unclear if the lawsuit is going to stick, legal experts tell Newsweek.
“Chairman Cummings set forth a series of legitimate Congressional avenues of investigation that justify the subpoena he issued for the president’s financial records. The records should be turned over to the Oversight Committee. Whether they will is another story,” Michael J. Stern, a former federal prosecutor, said.
Trump’s lawsuit alleged that the Democratic Party has “declared all-out political war” since taking over control of the House of Representatives in January and are using subpoenas as “their weapon of choice.”
Representative Cummings, the target of the lawsuit, is the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. Last week, he issued a subpoena to Mazars USA, the president’s accounting firm, for eight years of financial records including Trump’s highly sought-after tax returns. The company said it would “respect the legal process and fully comply with its legal obligations.”
In issuing the subpoena, Cummings said that the damning testimony of Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen and other corroborating evidence raised “grave questions about whether the president has been accurate in his financial reporting.
