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Appeals court says Deutsche Bank doesn’t have Trump’s tax returns

by Naomi Jagoda - 10/10/19 12:12 PM ET

Deutsche Bank doesn’t have any tax returns belonging to President Trump that pertain to a subpoena from House Democrats, federal appeals court judges in New York said Thursday.

The appeals court denied a motion from a group of media outlets — including The Associated Press, CNN and The New York Times — to disclose the names of individuals whose tax returns Deutsche Bank has in relation to Trump’s lawsuit, which was filed in an effort to prevent Democrats from securing his documents.

{mosads}The Democratic-led House Intelligence and Financial Services committees issued subpoenas earlier this year to Deutsche Bank for financial records, including tax returns, of Trump, his three oldest children and his businesses. Trump subsequently filed a lawsuit challenging the subpoenas, and the case is now before the U.S. Appeals Court for the 2nd Circuit.

Deutsche Bank said in a court filing in August that it has tax returns relating to the subpoenas, but the public version of the filing redacted the identities of the taxpayers.

The group of news organizations then filed a motion to unseal the names of the individuals. Deutsche Bank said it opposed the motion and revealed at that time that it had tax returns of two individuals, and none for businesses, named in the subpoenas. Trump’s lawyers also opposed releasing the identities of the taxpayers.

In its ruling Thursday, the appeals court said the unredacted version of Deutsche Bank’s August letter “reports that the only tax returns it has for individuals or entities named in the subpoenas are not those of the President.”

Since Deutsche Bank doesn’t have Trump’s tax returns, the identity of the individuals whose tax returns the bank has is not relevant for any issue the appeals court needs to decide in Trump’s pending appeal of the case, the court said Thursday.

The revelation that Deutsche Bank doesn’t have any of Trump’s relevant tax returns is a setback for Democrats’ efforts to obtain Trump’s tax filings.

Democrats have filed a separate lawsuit in an effort to get the Treasury Department and IRS to comply with their requests and subpoenas for six years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns.

Legal experts had said that if Deutsche Bank possessed Trump’s tax returns, Democrats would have likely obtained them faster from the bank than they would through the IRS because the lawsuit over the Deutsche Bank subpoenas is further along.

Tags Deutsche Bank Donald Trump federal appeals court Lawsuits New York Subpoena Tax returns