Trump Emoluments Challenge to Get Rehearing in Appeals Court

(Bloomberg) -- A U.S. appeals court in Virginia agreed to reconsider a Maryland and District of Columbia lawsuit accusing President Donald Trump of using his office to enrich himself in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

A three-judge panel had rejected the case in July. That decision overturned a pair of trial court rulings that had let the lawsuit to go forward and granted Democratic attorneys general Brian Frosh of Maryland and Karl Racine of D.C. permission to start investigating Trump’s financial records.

A full complement of judges sitting on the Richmond-based court scheduled a new hearing on Dec. 12. A New York-based U.S. Court of Appeals revived a separate suit in a ruling last month. A third such lawsuit, filed by more than 200 Democratic members of Congress, is pending in Washington.

The court’s decision granting “a rehearing in our anti-corruption case against President Trump is significant,” Frosh and Racine said in a joint statement. “We look forward to arguing our case before the full panel to stop President Trump from violating the Constitution and profiting from the presidency.”

The Justice Department declined to comment on the court’s decision.

The Richmond court’s ruling comes just days after a Washington appellate court said Congressional Democrats are entitled to obtain records from the president’s accountants.

The series of rulings is bound to deepen Trump’s political peril as House Democrats press an impeachment inquiry prompted by a whistleblower’s complaint accusing the president of tying foreign aid to Ukraine with that country’s willingness to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in federal court in Washington at aharris16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider, Steve Stroth

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