April 30, 2019:

On Monday, Donald Trump had sued Deutsche Bank and Capital One in a bid to stop them from handing over financial records in response to congressional subpoenas issued by Democrats.

Mr Trump filed suit late on Monday in a Federal Court in New York to stop the banks giving Congress years of records about his business dealings. The move is the latest attempt by the president to frustrate efforts by Democrats to dig into his personal affairs.

The lawsuit asked the court to declare subpoenas from the House intelligence and financial services committees invalid, and prevent Deutsche Bank and Capital One from complying with them.

He was joined in the suit by his sons Donald and Eric, his daughter Ivanka, who is also a White House adviser, and several related entities, including the Trump Organization.

The filing claimed the subpoenas were issued to “harass” Mr. Trump and “to ferret about for any material that might be used to cause him political damage”.

“No grounds exist to establish any purpose other than a political one,” said the filing.

A Deutsche Bank spokesman had no immediate comment. Capital One didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move by Mr Trump was the latest salvo in a battle between the president and Democrats in the House of Representatives who are investigating his administration and his business dealings.

Earlier this month, Mr Trump sued Mazars USA, his accounting firm, and Elijah Cummings, the Democratic chairman of the House oversight committee, after Mr Cummings issued a subpoena to the firm for records regarding the president.

Democrats are also seeking Mr Trump’s tax records, using a law that gives the House ways and means committee the right to access any individual’s tax returns. The Trump administration has missed two deadlines to hand over the president’s tax filings.

Last week, Mr Trump made his clear his intention to resist requests for records from Democrats in Congress, telling reporters: “We’re fighting all the subpoenas.”

Maxine Waters, chair of the House financial services committee, and Adam Schiff, who chairs the House intelligence committee, said in a joint statement on Monday that Mr Trump’s latest lawsuit was “meritless”.

“This lawsuit is not designed to succeed; it is only designed to put off meaningful accountability as long as possible,” they said.

Ms Waters and Mr Schiff had issued subpoenas earlier this month to Deutsche Bank and other banks as part of their investigations into illicit finance and foreign influence in US politics.

Mr Trump’s lawsuit said the subpoenas to Deutsche Bank sought a broad sweep of banking and financial records about himself, his family and his businesses stretching bank to 2010. For some types of records, such as account applications, the subpoenas placed no time limitation, according to the lawsuit.

Both Deutsche Bank and Capital One had intended to begin handing over documents in response to the subpoenas by May 6, the lawsuit said.

Mr Trump’s relationship with Deutsche Bank has been a key area of focus for congressional investigators, particularly after Michael Cohen, the president’s former lawyer, told Congress that documents Mr Trump submitted in connection with a potential loan in 2014 had “inflated” his wealth.

Mr Cohen is due to begin a three-year prison term in May for crimes including campaign finance violations, lying to Congress and tax evasion.

Deutsche Bank has been a longtime lender to Mr Trump, continuing to work with him even after other financial institutions were put off by a spate of Trump business bankruptcies in the 1990s.

Earlier this month, the bank said it was “committed to providing appropriate information to all authorized investigations in a manner consistent with our legal obligations”.

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