In Trump v. Deutsche Bank et al. (filed in the Southern District of New York), President Trump, in his personal capacity, and various of his companies have again filed to suit to block congressional subpoenas. This time the subpoenas in question were issued by two House committees (Intelligence and Financial Services) to two banks (Deutsche Bank and Capital One) seeking a wide range of financial records relating to Trump and his businesses. The case is similar to the one Trump brought against his accounting firm, except this time he has not named any members of Congress or committees as defendants. The reason for is likely tactical; by having only the banks (which are disinterested stakeholders) as defendants it may be easier to get preliminary relief from the court.
Trump’s primary objection to the subpoenas is the same as in the prior case. He contends that the subpoenas lack a legitimate legislative purpose. In addition, however, he asserts that the committees’ attempts to obtain these “account records violate the statutory requirements that apply to the federal government under the Right to Financial Privacy Act.” These are procedural requirements that apply to efforts by “any government authority” to obtain access to financial records. 12 U.S.C. § 3402.
This is not the first time someone has raised RFPA objections to a congressional subpoena. In 2001, counsel for Staten Island Bank and Trust raised such objections to a subpoena from the House Committee on Government Reform. In a letter dated October 15, 2001, committee counsel explained that congressional investigations were not implicated by the statute because it was clearly designed to apply only to law enforcement investigations:
Enforcing laws is the province of the executive branch, at which the statute is plainly directed. Congress does, however, have a Constitutional obligation to conduct oversight and legislative fact-finding investigations. Its power to compel document production in such investigations is a well-established necessity in order to carry out its Constitutional function. For one to accept your construction of the statute, he would have to believe that by enacting the Financial Right to Privacy Act, Congress intended to strip itself of the power to compel the production of bank records in the conduct of a fact-finding investigation because it is not relevant to a law enforcement inquiry. Such an interpretation would be an absurdity, and nothing in the legislative history of the Act supports it.
Justice Undone: Clemency Decisions in the Clinton White House, Second Report of the H. Comm. on Gov. Reform, H.R. Rep. 107-454, vol. 3, at 2536 (May 14, 2002). The counsel for the bank accepted the committee’s position and provided all of the responsive records. Id. at 2560.
So we will see if the president’s lawyers fare any better.