Trump sues to block Democrats’ subpoena to look into his personal finances

US President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit to block a subpoena issued by the chairman of the US House Oversight Committee, which is seeking information about his personal and business finances.

In a court filing on Monday, Trump Organization lawyers said that the subpoena issued by Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings is “invalid and unenforceable” because it has “no legitimate legislative purpose.”

The complaint, filed in Washington DC federal court, said that the Democratic Party had “declared all-out political war” on Trump and that subpoenas “are their weapon of choice.”

The subpoena attempts to obtain “years’ worth of confidential information,” is an “abuse of power,” and another example of “overreach” by Democrats intent on investigating the president, Trump’s lawyer William Consovoy said in a statement.

Democrats have consistently requested that Trump release his tax returns, but so far Trump has refused to comply – and it has been expected for months that the issue would eventually end up in court.

Getting their hands on information about Trump’s personal finances is seen by Democrats as another potential avenue to investigate and stonewall the Trump presidency, particularly after the two-year-long investigation into “collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia came up empty in March.

The Monday lawsuit argues that the goal of the subpoena is to “expose the plaintiffs’ private financial information for the sake of exposure, with the hope that it will turn up something that Democrats can use as a political tool” going into the 2020 election campaign.

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