Trump news: Judge to rule on whether accountants must release president's financial records, as trade war with China escalates

Follow along below from our coverage of Washington, as it happened

Trump says Orban doing 'tremendous job' during White House visit

A federal judge has cast doubt that US courts would intervene to limit Congress's ability to investigate Donald Trump saying that it would be highly unusual for such an intervention, as the first case over House Democrats' subpoenas for evidence was heard on Tuesday.

Judge Amit Mehta with the US District Court for the District of Columbia was in charge of that Tuesday hearing, which concerned whether House Democrats can obtain financial records held by an accounting firm representing the president. In their arguments, the case quickly centred around the American government's separation of powers.

“Am I right there isn't a single Supreme Court case or appellate case since 1880 that has found a congressional subpoena overstepped its bounds?” Mr Mehta, who will not issue a ruling until next week, asked Mr Trump's lawyer during questioning. “I agree there are outer limits, but it's not clear to me what they are.”

The court battle over those financial documents came as other controversies in Washington continued to smoulder. Before those arguments were heard, it was reported the Trump administration planned to have Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents round up and arrest thousands of Central American migrant families in cities across the US last month, as a brutal show of force before it was blocked by ex-Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and former ICE director Ron Vitiello.

Mr Trump also oversaw an escalating trade war with China on Tuesday, after the president imposed further tariffs on billions of dollars in Chinese imports.

On the 2020 campaign trail, a new poll has meanwhile put both of the leading Democratic presidential challengers, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, ahead of Trump in hypothetical 2020 matchups, with either man projected to beat him by an eight percent margin at the ballot box.

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Key Points

• Judge to rule on whether accountants must comply with House subpoena
• Trump aides spooked by House threat to introduce stonewalling fines
• Trump 'planned to have ICE agents round up thousands of migrant families'
• New poll says either Biden or Sanders would beat president in 2020
• Senator had 'no choice' but to issue Don Jr subpoena after no-shows

[14 May 2019 21:41 · Clark Mindock]

Thanks for reading along as we covered the day's events in Washington.