Trump fighting congressional subpoena for his financial records with lawsuit
President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization on Monday filed suit against the Democratic chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings, seeking relief from his subpoena request for the president’s financial records in the latest clash between the White House and congressional Democrats.
"The Democrat Party, with its newfound control of the U.S. House of Representatives, has declared all-out political war against President Donald J. Trump. Subpoenas are their weapon of choice," read a complaint filed Monday morning. "House Democrats are singularly obsessed with finding something they can use to damage the President politically."
Earlier this month, Cummings served a subpoena to Mazars USA, an accounting firm employed by Trump, seeking ten years of the president's financial records in an effort to corroborate elements of Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen's testimony before the committee.
During his testimony, Cohen claimed that Trump had, in the past, defrauded insurance companies by misrepresenting the value of his assets.
In court documents filed Monday, attorneys for Trump and the Trump Organization called Cohen’s testimony a "political stunt" and "one of the worst examples of the House Democrats’ zeal to attack President Trump under the guise of investigations."
The plaintiffs, in court documents, sought a "permanent injunction quashing Chairman Cummings’ subpoena."
In response, Cummings accused the president of "unprecedented stonewalling" and said he has yet to produce "a single document of witness" to his committee.
"The President has a long history of trying to use baseless lawsuits to attack his adversaries, but there is simply no valid legal basis to interfere with this duly authorized subpoena from Congress," Cummings said in a statement Monday. "This complaint reads more like political talking points than a reasoned legal brief, and it contains a litany of inaccurate information."
A spokesperson for Mazars USA, which was named as a defendant in the case, confirmed receipt of the lawsuit and said that the firm "will respect this process and will comply with all legal obligations."
Since taking power in the 2018 midterm elections, congressional Democrats have moved to probe several aspects of Trump’s personal, business and political life. Various House committees have issued subpoenas for information ranging from the president’s business and personal financial records to the process by which White House officials obtain security clearances.
Trump and the Trump Organization, in court documents, lamented the "more than 100 subpoenas and requests" House Democrats have issued "to anyone with even the most tangential connection to the President."
The House Ways and Means Committee, which has sought six years’ worth of the president’s tax information, gave the Treasury Department until Tuesday to comply with their request.
ABC News' Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
