May 25, 2019

Trump's legal losing streak

Mike Allen, author of AM

Trump walks out of the White House before leaving for Japan, May 24. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Strike 3 for President Trump in federal courts this week:

The latest: A federal judge in Oakland yesterday "blocked President Trump from building sections of his border wall using money redirected through a national emergency declaration," per the L.A. Times:

  • U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam granted "a preliminary injunction sought by the Sierra Club and a coalition of border community groups that sued the administration."

Why it matters: "The order blocks the use of $1 billion from the Department of Defense in Arizona and Texas, out of $6.7 billion that [the] Trump administration said it planned to direct toward building the wall," per Reuters.

The streak:

  • On Monday, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington ruled against Trump in an accounting-records dispute with the House Oversight Committee, and "said lawmakers should get the documents they have subpoenaed."
  • On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos in New York refused to block subpoenas — from the House Financial Services and Intelligence committees — for Trump records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One.
  • Also Wednesday, New York lawmakers gave final passage to legislation that would allow Trump's state tax returns to be released to Congress.

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