A New York judge has refused to block congressional subpoenas seeking financial records from two banks that did business with US President Donald Trump, making it clear it wasn't a close call.
US District Judge Edgardo Ramos said in a ruling Trump and his company were "highly unlikely" to succeed in a lawsuit arguing the subpoenas seeking records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One were unlawful and unconstitutional.
Ramos also concluded the subpoenas have "a legitimate legislative purpose" and dismissed one-by-one arguments made to try to bury them.
The lawyers for the House Financial Services and Intelligence committees say they need access to documents from the banks to investigate possible "foreign influence in the US political process" and money laundering.
When Ramos finished reading aloud a lengthy ruling, he asked Trump's lawyer, Patrick Strawbridge, if he would appeal.
"That's probably a safe bet," Strawbridge responded.
The judge then noted that both sides had agreed that the subpoenas would not require a response for another week, giving Trump, his family and his companies time to appeal.
The hearing falls two days after a federal judge in Washington ruled against Trump in a similar case, finding the president could not block a House subpoena for information from a financial services firm that had done accounting work for him and the Trump Organisation.
And it comes a day after Trump blocked his former White House lawyer, Don McGahn, from testifying before the House Judiciary Committee.
In a written submission prior to Wednesday's hearing, lawyers for two congressional committees wrote that Trump's effort to block the subpoenas was "flatly inconsistent with nearly a century of Supreme Court precedent."
Trump's lawyers had asked the judge to temporarily block Congress from obtaining the records. The banks took no position in the dispute.
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