Trump settles one of his document fights with House Democrats

Former president Donald Trump has settled a long-running fight with House Democrats over a subpoena for years of his financial records, his lawyers disclosed in a court filing late Wednesday.

The notice from Trump's attorneys didn't include any details about the terms of the agreement, stating only that they'd reached a deal with the House Oversight Committee one day earlier. The notice came after a three-judge federal appeals panel in July upheld the committee's authority to enforce its subpoena, while also ordering Democrats to narrow the scope of what they were seeking.

Trump's lawyers didn't immediately return a request for comment. A House Oversight spokesperson and committee lawyers also could not immediately be reached. 

Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg

The notice doesn't affect a separate court fight between Trump and the House Ways and Means Committee, which has been seeking years of his tax returns from the IRS. A federal appeals court ruled earlier this month that the tax documents had to be turned over to the committee. Trump is challenging that decision.

The House Oversight case dated back to 2019, when the committee subpoenaed Trump's accounting firm Mazars USA LLP for eight years of his financial records after his former attorney Michael Cohen testified before Congress accusing Trump of fraud. 

Committee members said they also wanted to explore other potential ethics and legal problems presented by Trump's business dealings. The subpoena covered records related to Trump individually as well as his businesses.

Trump lost challenges to the subpoena in the lower courts, but the US Supreme Court revived the fight in 2020, sending it back for another round of proceedings. A U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel again found mostly in the committee's favor and Trump asked on Aug. 22 for the full court to reconsider the ruling.

Trump's lawyers withdrew that request Wednesday, citing an Aug. 30 settlement among all the parties.