For 16 months, President Trump has fought tooth and nail to prevent Congress or the Manhattan D.A.’s office from knowing more about his finances than he does. And, in spite of the fact that he and his crack legal team haven’t been able to put together even a hint of a colorably constitutional argument as to why he should be the only person in the country not subject to the subpoena powers of lawmakers and law enforcers, it’s worked: Trump’s tax returns remain hidden from view—for now—as do his financial records from, among others, Deutsche Bank.
Or so, through that whole long fight, we thought. But, as it turns out, Deutsche Bank was a lot more forthcoming with the otherwise utterly useless Cy Vance than it was with Congress, or than its own bankers are with it.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office issued the subpoena last year to Deutsche Bank, which has been Mr. Trump’s primary lender since the late 1990s, seeking financial records that he and his company provided to the bank, according to four people familiar with the inquiry….
Deutsche Bank complied with the subpoena. Over a period of months last year, it provided Mr. Vance’s office with detailed records, including financial statements and other materials that Mr. Trump had provided to the bank as he sought loans, according to two of the people familiar with the inquiry….
The subpoena to Deutsche Bank sought documents on various topics related to Mr. Trump and his company, including any materials that might point to possible fraud, according to two people briefed on the subpoena’s contents…. Some Deutsche Bank officials viewed Mr. Trump’s financial statements as based on wildly optimistic assumptions and, in some cases, reduced his estimates of his assets’ values by up to 70 percent.
Trump’s Bank Was Subpoenaed by N.Y. Prosecutors in Criminal Inquiry [NYT]