Release of Trump’s Banking Records Delayed by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg – The New York Times

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The stay came three days after a lower court had ordered Deutsche Bank and Capital One to turn over President Trump’s financial records to Congress.

The stay by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg came after a federal appeals court ruled that Deutsche Bank and Capital One must turn over documents about President Trump’s finances to two congressional committees.Credit…T.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York Times

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday put a one-week hold on a lower court’s order for President Trump’s bank records to be turned over to Congress.

The stay issued by Justice Ginsburg came just three days after the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York said that Deutsche Bank and Capital One must cooperate with subpoenas of two Democratic-controlled committees in the House of Representatives.

The release of the records had been expected to give Democrats a trove of documents about Mr. Trump’s financial dealings as they pursue impeachment.

The stay is in effect until Dec. 13 and is not considered an indication of any potential ruling by the Supreme Court in Mr. Trump’s appeal of the disclosure order, as well as Justice Ginsburg’s leanings in the records dispute.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers made an emergency request for the stay while their appeal is considered by the Supreme Court, which has also been thrust into similar legal battle over access to Mr. Trump’s accounting records.

Justice Ginsburg serves as the circuit justice for the Second Circuit, which is based in New York, and requires her to sign off on emergency stays in appeals cases.

The House Financial Services and Intelligence Committees are seeking a detailed accounting of Mr. Trump’s personal and business finances, as well as those of his companies and family members.

Mr. Trump has spent much of his term fighting to keep that information secret, including his tax returns. While there is no legal requirement for presidents to release their tax returns, Mr. Trump is the first president to avoid doing so in decades.

Deutsche Bank is Mr. Trump’s primary lender after a string of bankruptcies and loan defaults cost other banks hundreds of millions of dollars; over the past two decades, the German bank lent him and his companies a total of well over $2 billion.

Mr. Trump sued Deutsche Bank and Capital One to try to stop them from complying with the subpoenas for his financial records, which House Democrats expect would pull back the curtain on the president’s financial interests. Democrats are hoping that the documents reveal links between Mr. Trump and foreign governments.