The Supreme Court issued a temporary stay until December 13. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI |
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Dec. 6 (UPI) -- The Supreme Court on Friday granted President Donald Trump a temporary stay in his request to block a subpoena requiring two financial institutions to hand over his records to House Democrats.
The stay comes less than a week after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Deutsche Bank and Capital One must hand over the documents to the House intelligence and financial services committees.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who oversees the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, issued the administrative stay, which is in effect until Dec. 13. It will give the high court time to decide whether to issue a longer stay to allow Trump's lawyers to prepare for a formal appeal with the court.
The appeals court said Deutsche Bank and Capital One must hand over years of fiscal documents involving Trump, his adult children and his private company. Trump argued that as president he's protected from criminal prosecution and that congressional investigations into financial dealings dating back to 2010 "have no legitimate legislative purpose."
He'd also argued that releasing his financial records violates his right to privacy.
The subpoena stems from the House intelligence and financial services committees' investigation of Russian money laundering and potential U.S. influence. Trump answered by suing Deutsche Bank and Capital One to keep them from handing the records over.
The case is one of three legal battles involving Trump's financial or tax records.
On Thursday, his legal team asked the Supreme Court to hear a case in which Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform requested personal and business records from Trump's accounting firm, Mazars USA LLP.
In November, he asked for the court to block a Manhattan grand jury subpoena seeking eight years of his New York state tax returns.