Supreme Court maintains hold on Trump financial records subpoena

Nov. 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday maintained a hold on a House subpoena demanding President Donald Trump's longtime accounting firm hand over years of his financial records to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

In a brief order, the justices said they would allow a hold against the subpoena to stand in order to give them more time to decide whether to hear Trump's appeal on a lower court's decision to allow the Democrats access to the documents.

Trump's lawyers have until Dec. 5 to file their appeal.

The Democrat-led House Committee on Oversight and Reform subpoenaed Mazars USA LLP for the records in April, following Trump's longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen testifying that the president had manipulated the value of his assets for improper purposes.

The committee has subpoenaed years' worth of financial records going back a decade as part of their investigation, a subpoena that was supported by a lower court's decision in October.

But Trump's lawyers then asked the Supreme Court to intervene and Chief Justice John Roberts signed the temporary stay.

Last week, the Democrats urged the justices to allow them access to the documents, arguing that it has been over 220 days since the subpoena was granted and Trump's legal team has failed to provide evidence that harm caused by the release of the documents is greater than the harm dealt to Congress by withholding the information.

Trump's lawyers argued that the House Democrats' subpoena goes against the Constitution's separation of powers.

The justices' order comes as the Supreme Court is also examining a similar subpoena for Trump's records as part of a criminal investigation in New York.