Court OKs expedited appeal in NY Trump bank records case

NEW YORK — An appeals court said Friday it will speedily consider President Donald Trump’s challenge to congressional subpoenas seeking financial records from two banks with which he did business.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan issued a brief order setting a schedule for written arguments to be submitted by July 18, with oral arguments to soon follow.

Lawyers on both sides in the dispute had recommended the expedited schedule after U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos ruled nine days ago that Trump, his family and his companies were unlikely to succeed in their lawsuit.

Trump, Donald J. Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump, and various companies sued to stop the House Financial Services and Intelligence committees from getting documents from Deutsche Bank and Capital One on the grounds that the requests were unlawful and unconstitutional.

The committees said they sought the information as they investigate possible “foreign influence in the U.S. political process.”

Trump’s lawyers argued that the subpoenas were too broadly written and sought information so that the committees could conduct law-enforcement activities that are reserved for the other branches of government.

Ramos ruled that the subpoenas had a legitimate legislative purpose.

His ruling came shortly after a federal judge in Washington ruled against Trump in a similar case. That judge found that Trump cannot block a House subpoena seeking information from a financial services firm that did accounting work for him and the Trump Organization.

Over the years, Deutsche Bank has lent Trump’s real estate company millions of dollars.

The banks took no position in the dispute.