House Dems seeking Trump financial info going back 10 years

Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee have requested information from a tax and accounting firm about President Trump’s finances going back 10 years, from before he launched his White House bid, according to a letter sent to the firm and released Wednesday.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the chairman of the panel, released a letter he sent to the the firm Mazars USA LLP requesting information about Trump’s finances going back to Jan. 1, 2009. He released the letter after two Republicans on the panel shared news of the request earlier in the day.

Cummings wrote in his letter dated March 20 that his request was spurred by testimony from Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, who told lawmakers earlier this year that Trump often inflated or deflated his net worth for “potentially improper purposes.”{mosads}

“Mr. Cohen produced to the Committee financial statements from 2011, 2012, and 2013 that raise questions about the President’s representations of his financial affairs on these forms and on other disclosures, particularly relating to the President’s debts,” Cummings wrote to the firm. “Several of these documents appear to have been signed by your firm.”

The Oversight chairman is requesting details on a litany of issues, including any altering of Trump’s financial info, efforts to buy the Buffalo Bills football team and info on reduced interest rates on loans from Deutsche Bank. He requested the firm send the panel any related documents by April 3.

Cummings released the letter after two Republicans on the Oversight panel, Reps. Mark Meadows (N.C.) and Jim Jordan (Ohio), accused the Democratic chairman of attempting to obtain information about Trump’s personal finances “solely to embarrass President Trump and to advance the relentless Democrat attacks upon the Trump administration.”

Meadows and Jordan, who are top allies of Trump on Capitol Hill, noted in a statement that Cummings’s inquiry to the tax and accounting firm centered around actions years before Trump ran for president. The pair wrote that the inquiry about Trump’s finances “appears to depart from responsible and legitimate oversight.”

“Under House Rule X, you have broad latitude to investigate ‘any matter at any time.’ However, we rely on you to exercise your authority as Chairman with good judgement so that the Committee’s work focuses on improving the overall economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the federal government or bettering the lives of the American people,” Meadows and Jordan wrote in a letter to Cummings on Wednesday.

Cummings later Wednesday fired back on the GOP congressmen, suggesting they would support strong oversight measures if a Democrat sat in the White House.

“I suppose it is no longer a surprise that Republicans on the Oversight Committee are now opposed to oversight itself—especially since a Republican entered the White House,” Cummings asserted in a statement.

“If they had their way, the Committee would just close up shop for the next two years, but that is not what the American people elected us to do. We are following-up on specific allegations regarding the President’s actions based on corroborating documents obtained by the Committee, and we will continue our efforts to conduct credible, robust, and independent oversight.”

Meadows and Jordan have emerged as vocal critics of the new House Democratic majority as several committees flex their investigative muscles to probe the Trump administration and Trump’s personal and business finances.

“.@RepJerryNadler’s fishing expedition—81 document requests covering over 60 individuals. Mueller issued 500 search warrants and 2800 subpoenas. No collusion. No obstruction. But Nadler thinks he can find it with 81 letters,” Jordan tweeted Tuesday regarding the House Judiciary Committee’s widespread probe into Trump’s campaign, business and administration and requests the panel sent to 81 Trump associates for information.

.@RepJerryNadler’s fishing expedition—81 document requests covering over 60 individuals.

Mueller issued 500 search warrants and 2800 subpoenas. No collusion. No obstruction.

But Nadler thinks he can find it with 81 letters.

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) March 26, 2019

The two congressmen have also pointed to special counsel Robert Mueller’s conclusion that the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia in 2016, arguing the conclusion is evidence that House Democrats are simply searching for something to bring down the president.

– Updated: 3:55 p.m.