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Trump’s foreign financial ties, foreign interference
in the U.S. political process, the safety of bank lend-
ing practices, and the threat of money laundering,”
Letter wrote in the 10-page filing.
The proposed approach, however, stood in stark
contrast to that of Trump’s attorney, Consovoy Mc-
Carthy partner Patrick Strawbridge, who argued
that it should be up to a district court judge to deter-
mine if the revised subpoenas were valid. A remand
to the trial court following a Supreme Court ruling,
Strawbidge said, was “ordinary practice,” and the
lower court was best positioned to review any new Douglas Letter, general counsel to the U.S. House of
evidence the committees might offer. Representatives. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

“The district court will need to review the par- The committees had subpoenaed documents from
ties’ evidence, justifications, and arguments, and two of the president’s banks, Deutsche Bank and Cap-
ultimately, decide whether this subpoena is valid,” ital One, which are the named defendants to the suit.
Strawbridge wrote. The Financial Services Committee is looking into
The filings late Wednesday followed the Supreme possible Russian money laundering in the presi-
Court’s July 9 ruling in the case Trump v. Mazars, dent’s real estate deals, and the Intelligence Commit-
considered one of the most consequential challenges tee is exploring any foreign influence in elections.
to legislative power in decades. In separate filings Wednesday, both banks took “no
The justices, in a 7-2 decision, held that although position” on how the case should proceed. Both banks
the congressional subpoenas may be enforceable, have said they are not the true parties-of-interest to
the lower court did not take adequate account of the litigation and would abide by the courts’ rulings.
the significant separation-of-powers underpinning Letter said in his filing the the Intelligence Com-
the inquiries. In a separate opinion, the court did mittee, chaired by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California,
rule that Trump must comply with a New York state had limited its subpoena to “key account-holders,”
grand jury subpoena investigating potential irregu- and not the president’s immediate family members.
larities in his tax and business records, and gave the It had also scaled back, with few exceptions, the
president another chance to make constitutional date range by an additional five years, and generally
and other legal arguments against the subpoenas on sought “only those records that may reveal the presi-
remand to a Manhattan federal court. dent’s foreign financial ties.”
The Mazars ruling, meanwhile, established a four- The Intelligence Committee, Letter argued, had
part test that directed courts to assess the breadth narrowed its inquiry even further and had altogeth-
and legislative purpose of subpoenas for the presi- er withdrawn a subpoena of Capital One.
dent’s personal information, as well as the nature of “The committees have taken significant steps in
the evidence Congress had offered in support. The light of Mazars to narrow the scope of the informa-
burdens on the president’s “time and attention” in tion they seek,” he said.
responding to subpoenas must also be “carefully Both Letter and Strawbridge made reference to
scrutinized,” the Supreme Court said. preliminary settlement talks, but said there had
The Second Circuit, which is considering the case been no progress toward reaching a resolution. ¦
on remand, asked the parties earlier this month to
advise on the “appropriate action this court should Tom McParland of New York Law Journal can be
take to comply with the Supreme Court’s opinion,” contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on
either “with or without specific directions.” Twitter @TMcParlandALM.

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