President Donald Trump. Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

President Donald Trump's efforts to slow, if not defeat, multiple U.S. House of Representative probes in federal court faced another setback Wednesday in Manhattan, where U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos of the Southern District of New York declined to issue a preliminary injunction blocking Deutsche Bank and Capital One from responding to congressional subpoenas.

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Reading his opinion from the bench, Ramos said that while the subpoenas issued to the banks from the Democrat-controlled House intelligence services were “undeniably broad,” they were also “clearly pertinent” to the “facially legitimate” investigations the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled is in Congress' purview “over and over again.”

“Put simply, the power of Congress to conduct investigations is inherent in the legislative process,” Ramos said.

Ultimately, Ramos said, the Trump family and businesses were “highly unlikely” to succeed on the Constitutional claims before the court.

Ramos' decision largely echoed that of U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta of the District of Columbia, who also denied Trump's attempts in that court from blocking the House oversight committee's subpoena of Mazars USA, the accounting firm used by the president.

Trump's attorneys in the New York district court action added a new legal twist not seen in the D.C. action. Consovoy McCarthy partner Patrick Strawbridge, who presented in court for both the Trump family and business interests, argued that the Congressional subpoenas were limited under the federal Right to Financial Privacy Act.

Strawbridge argued that the wording of the act meant that congressional committee actions should be under the same restrictions as federal agencies and departments. Ramos, however, made it clear that the argument was not prevailing, declaring Congress “not bound” by the law.

The Trump plaintiffs also argued Congress was attempting to usurp the role of law enforcement by conducting an investigation into the president based on motives that belied the seemingly legitimate sounding nature of investigations into the financial system and foreign influence in the political system.

This argument, House general counsel Douglas Letter told the court, showed that Trump holds “a very serious misunderstanding” of Congress' role.

“He clearly sees us as a nuisance,” Letter said.

Far from an investigation solely targeting the president, the committees in the House subpoenaed approximately 10 other individuals and companies as part of its investigation that may or may not result in new legislation. Either way, Letter said, Congress' power was repeatedly upheld by the Supreme Court, and the President's arguments were ultimately meritless.

Ramos, in questioning Letter, asked where, then, do the district court's “draw the line” on what is appropriate for Congress.

“Respectfully, your honor, the Supreme Court of the United States has made it clear: You do not have that power,” Letter said.

Even to concerns raised by the Trump plaintiffs to the irreparable harm they might face should Congress get a hold of the requested bank and financial records of members of the president's family and his business interests, going back decades in some instances, and make that information public, Letter said it was up to Congress to decide what to do with the information it had the right to pursue and acquire.

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