House Oversight Committee reaches deal for Trump financial records

Sept. 1 (UPI) -- More than three years after requesting them, the House Oversight and Reform Committee will get several financial documents from former President Donald Trump, Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. confirmed Thursday.

In the deal reached Thursday, the committee agreed to end the litigation filed by the former president, meaning his former accounting firm, Mazars USA, will turn over the requested financial records.

Mazars severed ties with the Trump Organization in February and said that a decade of annual financial statements it prepared may be unreliable.

The committee first subpoenaed the documents in April, 2019 as part of an investigation into Trump's possible conflicts of interest, self-dealing, and foreign financial ties.

In February, 2019, Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, testified before of the committee. telling members members that Trump "inflated his total assets when it served his purposes" or, at other times, "deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes."

Sentenced to three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to coordinating hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, Cohen alleged that Trump's financial statements falsely represented the president's financial condition.

Under terms of the deal, Trump's lawyers agreed Wednesday to drop a motion seeking a rehearing of the case and a second request that the entire lineup of judges on the appeals court examine it.

Thursday's deal ends the drawn-out legal saga.

"After numerous court victories, I am pleased that my committee has now reached an agreement to obtain key financial documents that former President Trump fought for years to hide from Congress," Maloney said in a statement on the committee's website.

"After facing years of delay tactics, the committee has now reached an agreement with the former President and his accounting firm, Mazars USA, to obtain critical documents.

These documents will inform the committee's efforts to get to the bottom of former President Trump's egregious conduct and ensure that future presidents do not abuse their position of power for personal gain."

A federal appeals court previously ruled that the committee did have the authority to subpoena Trump, but instructed it to narrow its request.