It should be interesting to see what kind of deal the House Democrats and Donald Trump will make regarding obtaining his financial records from Deutsche Bank, one of the rare places that have loaned him money in the near past, Reuters reported. After all, Trump has been making deals for half a century or more. Of course, the ex-president’s Chief Financial Officer’s (CEO) son works at the bank. Convenient, is it not? Let’s look deeper.
The two parties have not finished their negotiations yet, because Trump wants to “narrow or resolve” their differences. The court filing read:
‘[C]ontinuing to engage in negotiations intended to narrow or resolve their disputes and believe they are close to an agreement.’
House Democrats and Donald Trump have asked a New York federal judge for an additional month to continue negotiations.
None of this has gone quickly. Back in 2019, the House Financial Services Committee and the House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Deutsche Bank. They were after years of the ex-president’s personal and business records.
Of course, 45 challenged their request via their subpoenas. He did it on the grounds that this would have been “an intrusion on his powers as president.”
Last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the House committees. It said that Congress did, indeed, have the right to obtain presidential evidence. It ruled against a lower appeals court, noting, Reuters reported:
‘the justices said that while Congress had the power to seek evidence from the president, [ A] lower appeals court failed to adequately consider Trump’s claims the demands were unnecessary and too intrusive.’
It came as no surprise that Trump waited out the subpoenas as a delaying tactic, and they expired. The House committees will issue new ones. Of course, their potential deal with Deutsche Bank about obtaining Trump’s financial records might put the need for subpoenas on the back burner. We should have the answer in 30 days.
In addition, the House Democrats have also been in a separate long-term court battle over the subpoenas of the ex-president’s tax records. While Trump has been playing footsie with Congress, President Joe Biden’s Treasury Department has waited on the sidelines.
The Treasury could legally make an end-run around the court battle and comply with Congress’ requests. But the department has delayed turning over the former president’s tax returns, asking for additional time.
Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Cyrus Vance III has already obtained the ex-president’s tax returns after subpoenaing Mazars USA, his accounting firm. New York Attorney General Letitia James also obtained them for her case.
Again, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Trump’s argument last July. It ruled against his claim that he was immune from state criminal investigation. His attorney’s case’s foundation was fatally flawed on that basis.
At this time Deutsche Bank had no comment. In addition, it has remained neutral over the issue of the subpoenas. Instead, the bank said it would “follow the law,” The Bloomberg News reported.
At the same time, the city of New York fired him after his participation on January 6. The city had a contract with Trump to manage a city golf court. But firing him has never been easy, according to ABC News:
‘Donald Trump has a rich history of fighting back when he’s down and making others pay, and that’s exactly how he intends to deal with New York City over its plans to fire his company from running a windswept city golf course in the Bronx.’
President NYC Park Advocates Geoffrey Croft, a watchdog group, noted:
‘The taxpayers are going to get screwed.’
The House Democrats may face the same result.
Three White Lions Podcast Gloria Christie reads her week’s most important news/ commentary stories in the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Gloria Christie Report Newsletter for people on the go. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor/briefer version of  Bipartisan Report stories. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery. Find her here on Facebook.
