(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Justice Department is backing President Donald Trump's effort to thwart House Democrats seeking financial records held by his accountants at Mazars USA LLP.
The government's lawyers told a federal appeals court largely the same things Trump's attorneys had argued at a hearing last month: a subpoena served on Mazars by the House Oversight and Reform Committee earlier this year wasn't properly authorized and lacked a legitimate legislative purpose.
The three-judge appellate panel, consisting of two Democratic appointees and one Republican, asked the Justice Department to file a friend-of-the-court brief after the July 12 arguments. Trump is trying to reverse a May ruling upholding the committee's subpoena. The president has been represented by private counsel, not government lawyers.
The question of where the government stood on the issue arose after Trump's lawyer, William Consovoy, asserted the Congressional request had implications for the separation of powers between those two branches of the federal government.
“The president, not Mazars, is the target of the subpoena,” Justice Department lawyers said in their filing. “The oversight committee seeks the president's personal records solely on the account of the public office he holds.”
Trump's Fight to Shield Finances Faces Skepticism in Court
The case is Trump v. Mazars USA LLP, 19-5142, U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit (Washington)
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in Washington at aharris16@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Heather Smith
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