The heat on the investigation of President Trump’s finances has just been cranked up even further. We have official confirmation that the Trump finances subpoena was never sent, and we even know why. Essentially, it sounds like it boils down to partisan politics, which have gotten even worse over the last year.
Mueller’s Trump finances subpoena wasn’t sent
Special Counsel Robert Mueller was said to have subpoenaed Deutsche Bank for the release of Trump’s medical records. The news came from German newspaper Handelsblatt, Bloomberg and Reuters, which cited unnamed sources. While some critics of the anti-Trump camp are calling the reports about the Trump finances subpoena “fake news,” it isn’t fake as much as it might be a half-truth.
A short time ago, Fox News White House Correspondent John Roberts tweeted that a source with knowledge of the investigation into Trump’s finances had told him that Mueller’s office never sent a subpoena to Deutsche Bank asking for the president’s financial records. Then not long after that, Trump attorney Jay Sekulow confirmed to Reuters that there was no Trump finances subpoena sent to Deutsche Bank. He said that they have confirmed it with the bank itself and “other sources.”
Many media outlets included the denial from Trump’s attorney in their reports, but the idea of his bank being subpoenaed for his financial records makes for far juicier headlines.
Here’s why the subpoena wasn’t sent
But things go even deeper than this “he said, she said” story as it sounds like both sides are only giving half of the truth.
CNN Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju tweeted that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee actually blocked the Trump finances subpoena, refusing to order Deutsche Bank to hand over the Trump Organization’s financial records. He cites “Schiff” for that tidbit, who presumably is Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, a ranking member of the committee.
The congressman also told Raju that the refusal to order those records be handed over is a “troubling double-standard” because Republicans did subpoena the bank records for Fusion GPS. In case you missed it, Fusion GPS is the firm that’s accused of paying journalists to publish pieces about Congress’ investigation into Russian meddling, according to court documents. Fusion GPS also published the anti-Trump dossier.
