House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings issued a subpoena to a firm that does much of Donald Trump’s accounting on April 15, but Trump immediately responded by launching a suit against the company and against Chairman Cummings. On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta put that case on a “fast track,” scheduling a hearing for May 14.
According to CNN, without this ruling the case would have been heard by the same judge, but in a series of stages that could have stretched out over several months. Even that was considered to be speedy handling, but now the case is moving to an extra-fast track that could see an answer within days. Mehta has stated that the “sole question” before the court is the validity of the House subpoena, making it seem that a near-immediate decision is likely to follow the hearing.
Judge Mehta is looking at “the major legal issues raised” in Trump’s challenge to the congressional subpoena. Should the judge find that the challenge is without merit, or rule that the congressional subpoena is improper, the whole thing could be over instantly—but for the inevitable appeal if Trump loses. Because it seems unlikely the case will be genuinely over until it’s had its day before Justice Beer.
The statements from the firm, Mazars USA, could be critical to one subject in particular. When testifying before the Oversight Committee, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen stated that Trump had lied about his wealth when applying for bank loans by inflating the value of assets and hiding debts. Cohen provided the committee with three years of statements that covered a period in which Trump was trying to buy the NFL Buffalo Bills, but the statements from Mazars would cover a six-year period in which Trump applied for loans from Deutsche Bank. The matching records, including Trump’s loan applications, have been subpoenaed from Deutsche Bank—an action also being blocked by a lawsuit from Trump.
Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is currently serving in part because of bank fraud committed in the same way as the claims Cohen made against Trump. Should Trump be discovered to have committed felony fraud, it would likely join the growing list of things that the Department of Justice refused to act on … at least for the next two years. But it could also be a factor leading to Trump’s impeachment.
Republicans have claimed that, even should evidence show that Trump inflated his assets to obtain loans, this is common practice. However, the laws apparently don’t have an “it’s okay if lots of people do it” clause—as Manafort discovered. And Republicans have claimed that any fraud on Trump’s part shouldn’t be considered because it took place before he was elected and doesn’t have anything to do with his duties in the White House. That’s a position that Republicans notably did not take during the Whitewater investigation.
The suit against Mazars and Cummings is part of a “trilogy” that includes a similar suit blocking the release of Deutsche Bank records, and Steven Mnuchin’s refusal to hand over Trump tax returns. It’s unclear whether all of this secrecy is designed to hide major crimes, like felony bankfraud, or if it’s covering up what earlier tax information released by The New York Times demonstrated—that Trump is the nation’s biggest loser.