Attorneys for President Donald Trump wrote in a new letter to a federal appellate court in Manhattan that even if Deutsche Bank has copies of his tax returns, or those of Trump family members or businesses, the two committees in Congress that requested them are barred from doing so under federal law.

The letter was transmitted late Thursday night.

The U.S. House of Representatives' Financial Services and Intelligence committees, which have subpoenaed Deutsche Bank for those records, among others, don't have that power, they wrote in a letter to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

"While the Committees 'do not know' whether Deutsche Bank can disclose tax returns in response to the subpoenas, they never identify their authority to request tax returns in the first place," Trump's attorneys wrote. "They have none."

Trump is represented in the litigation by William Consovoy and Patrick Strawbridge of Consovoy McCarthy.

The argument was in response to a previous letter written by Douglas Letter, general counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives. He said Congress would be lawfully allowed to obtain the tax returns of Trump, or his three eldest children, under certain conditions. But that power is not absolute, Letter wrote.

It would depend on how Deutsche Bank obtained those tax filings, according to Letter. He argued that if the bank received those tax documents directly from Trump, or his children, they would be fair game for disclosure to Congress.

The same would be true if Deutsche Bank obtained those tax filings from the Internal Revenue Service, as long as it did so with the consent of Trump or his family, Letter wrote. He referred to 26 U.S.C. §6103, a section of federal law that prohibits the disclosure of certain tax information.

"The application of Section 6103 to any tax returns or return information that defendants Deutsche Bank and Capital One Bank might have depends on how the banks obtained that information — facts the Committees do not know," Letter wrote.

Trump's attorneys wrote that, even if there's a question as to whether Deutsche Bank can disclose those tax filings, neither committee in Congress, as of now, has the power under federal law to request them.

They argued in the new filing that tax return requests, governed under §6103, are only allowed from the House Ways and Means Committee, Senate Finance Committee, and Joint Committee on Taxation.

"The House Financial Services and Intelligence Committees aren't listed," Trump's attorneys wrote.

Other committees can request an individual's tax filings, but only after the House approves a resolution that spells out the purpose of such an inquiry, and whether the information could be obtained elsewhere. That hasn't happened, Trump's attorneys wrote.

The Second Circuit is currently considering whether to uphold a decision handed down earlier this year by U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos of the Southern District of New York, who declined to issue a preliminary injunction against the subpoenas at the time.

Trump's attorneys wrote in the new filing that the appellate court didn't need to weigh, in its decision, whether the committees could, or could not, request Trump's tax filings. Their point, instead, was that if the court doesn't enjoin the subpoenas, their argument over the authority of those committees could become moot by the disclosure of the tax documents.

"They raise 'serious questions' (including the Committees' attempts to exceed §6103 and the limits on their jurisdiction) that should be litigated, instead of mooted by the district court's denial of a preliminary injunction," Trump's attorneys wrote.

The new filing came days after attorneys for Deutsche Bank disclosed to the Second Circuit that it had the tax returns of at least one member of the Trump family or one of its business entities, but did not publicly state whose filings they were. That information was redacted.

The Second Circuit, after hearing arguments on the matter earlier this month, had asked Deutsche Bank and Capital One to say, definitively, whether they had the tax returns of Trump, his three eldest children, or one of their business entities while it considers the litigation.

The lawsuit was initially brought on  behalf of the Trump family members and entities in April to block a series of subpoenas sent to Deutsche Bank and Capital One from the House Financial Services and Intelligence committees earlier this year.

Those committees were seeking financial documents from the two banks related to the Trumps and their businesses. That request, if allowed, may give Democrats on the committees a way to obtain copies of Trump's tax returns, if Deutsche Bank has them, after other attempts have fallen short.

Letter, in previous statements, has said the subpoenas were part of a broader effort to investigate money laundering and foreign influence on the U.S. government. Capital One said in its own letter to the appellate court this week that it did not have any of Trump's tax filings.

Congressional Democrats have moved, in recent months, to obtain more information on Trump's finances through legislation and litigation.

The House Oversight Committee, for example, has issued a subpoena to Trump's personal accounting firm. That request is now the subject of litigation before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where a decision is expected soon.

Lawmakers in New York also approved legislation this year that would allow certain committees in Congress to request copies of Trump's tax filings from the state Department of Taxation and Finance. That law is now also the subject of litigation in Washington, D.C., federal court.

Both lawsuits, among others over Trump's financial dealings, are ongoing.

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