The House had subpoenaed financial documents the bank has for Trump and his children — Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump — as well as two redacted names or entities and for their immediate family members. The House also subpoenaed financial documents related to Trump-owned entities, but these don’t include tax returns, according to the new filing.
The tax returns the bank possesses have been redacted in court filings in order not to reveal the names of the individuals involved, and media organizations are suing for the names to be released. The filing Friday narrows down the pool of candidates, saying the tax returns are for people and not corporations or organizations.
The revelation is the latest development in the House’s effort to obtain the President’s tax returns, which has been in a legal battle since Trump challenged the congressional subpoenas in court. Though Deutsche Bank wouldn’t say publicly last month whether it has Trump’s tax returns, it did acknowledge that the House would see people’s tax returns if it was ordered to fulfill the subpoena, and Friday’s filing revealed that the bank has tax returns for at least two people named in the request.
“Based on Deutsche Bank’s current knowledge and the results of the extensive searches that have already been conducted,” the new filing reads, “the Bank has in its possession tax returns (in either draft or as-filed form) responsive to the Subpoenas for two individuals, not entities, named in the Subpoenas.”
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The subpoenas are currently being considered by a federal appeals court in New York after Trump lost his challenge at the trial-court level.
It’s still not known whether the appeals court will allow the names in a letter Deutsche Bank sent to the court last month to stay secret. The court hasn’t decided whether the House’s subpoenas are valid, either.
The bank, in its filing last month, argued that there are “statutory, contractual, and privacy concerns” that have made it reluctant to name whose tax returns it has that would fall under the spring 2019 House subpoena.