From Sandra Johnson
WASHINGTON: Former President Donald Trump reached a deal with Democrats on a House Committee to release his financial records that he “fought for years to hide from Congress,” the chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee announced on Thursday.
“After facing years of delay tactics, the Committee has now reached an agreement with the former President and his accounting firm, Mazars USA, to obtain critical documents,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York said in a statement.
“These documents will inform the Committee’s efforts to get to the bottom of former President Trump’s egregious conduct and ensure that future presidents do not abuse their position of power for personal gain.”
The legal proceedings, spurred by testimony from Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen that described misleading asset valuations, have outlasted Trump’s time in office.
The litigation began in April 2019, when the Oversight Committee issued a subpoena to Trump’s accounting firm for the former president’s financial information across eight years. But Trump challenged the subpoena, and the case ultimately made its way to the Supreme Court before being sent back down to a lower court in July 2020 for further proceedings. In a July 8, 2022, ruling, the D.C. Circuit allowed the committee to obtain certain financial records from Trump and his businesses.
With the deal, reached Aug. 30, according to court filings, Trump has agreed not to further appeal the D.C. Circuit’s ruling and will comply with the court’s order to produce documents “as expeditiously as possible,” the committee said.
The development comes after another House committee was likewise granted access to some of Trump’s financial documents earlier this month. A federal appeals court gave the House Ways and Means Committee the green light to review Trump’s tax returns, determining that the request does not exceed Congress’ investigative authority or violate the separation of powers, like Trump’s lawyers had argued.
