Trump Files Lawsuit Against Deutsche Bank And Capital One To Prevent Them From Releasing His Financial Records
U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly filed a federal lawsuit against Deutsche Bank and Capital One on Monday night in an attempt to prevent them from releasing his financial information after House committees subpoenaed his records, writes The Guardian. In addition to the president, three of his children and seven of his companies also joined the lawsuit.
In April, Democrat-run House committees sent subpoenas to several financial institutions that have been involved in Trump’s financial endeavors, reportedly in an attempt to uncover any information tied to alleged money laundering collusion with Russia. Deutsche Bank, in particular, which has lent Trump over $340 million, has been the target of the House Financial Services Committee investigations, reports Fortune.
Representative Maxine Waters, the head of the House Financial Services Committee, and House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff have reportedly both been seeking information from Deutsche Bank, claiming that the German bank has been cooperative and that the subpoenas were merely “friendly.”
Waters commented on the subpoenas in a statement after they were first sent out in April.
“The potential use of the US financial system for illicit purposes is a very serious concern. The financial services committee is exploring these matters, including as they may involve the president and his associates, as thoroughly as possible.”
Breaking: @realDonaldTrump sues @DeutscheBank, trying to invalidate congressional subpoenas for records about its lending to him. Story coming @nytimes pic.twitter.com/eRCn0qXYTU
— David Enrich (@davidenrich) April 30, 2019
A Deutsche Bank spokesperson also commented on the subpoenas on Tuesday, according to Fortune.
“We remain committed to providing appropriate information to all authorized investigations and will abide by a court order regarding such investigations.”
President Trump and his lawyers claim that the subpoenas have no lawful or legitimate purpose and ask that the court use its power to invalidate the subpoenas.
In the 13-page complaint, Trump’s lawyers wrote that the Democrats were using the subpoenas to “harass” the president and to “stumble upon something they can expose publicly and use as a political tool against the president.”
“The subpoenas were issued to harass President Donald J. Trump, to rummage through every aspect of his personal finances, his businesses, and the private information of the President and his family, and to ferret about for any material that might be used to cause him political damage.”
Among the plaintiffs joining Trump are Donald Jr., Eric, and Ivanka Trump as well as the Trump Organization and the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, among others.
Although Deutsche Bank was Trump’s main lender for many years, they stopped doing new business with him after he became president.
The lawsuit was filed with the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, Manhattan, under the name, Trump v. Deutsche Bank, 19-cv-03826.
