U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he departs for campaign travel to Minnesota from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., October 10, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Friday backed a House of Representatives request for President Donald Trump’s financial records, rejecting an appeal by the president to block his accounting firm from handing over any information.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, affirmed a lower court decision that the House Oversight Committee subpoena for documents from Mazars LLP accountants was valid.
Lawyers for Trump had said a May 20 decision by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ordering Mazars to comply with the subpoena was flawed and should be reversed.
Trump had sued the House panel in April, argued that its subpoena exceeded constitutional limits on the power of Congress to investigate.
Trump’s lawyers can still seek further appellate review of the decision.
Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Susan Heavey; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Alistair Bell