Trump's banks won't tell court if they have his tax returns

[24601]

18. The Appeals Court did not order the bank to confirm they had them or to produce them. Their oral

argument was that confirming whether they had the returns would violate their fiduciary responsibility to their client. That's one of the points being adjudicated. It was discussed that the court might ask for the answer under seal.

Several exchanges during the argument focused the counsel for the House of Representatives acknowledging that once the returns were provided to congressional committees, there was no expectation they would not be released publicly. My sense of the oral argument was that the court was skeptical that the real purpose was to enact legislation, or that the returns were even needed to legislate. If the judges infer that legislating is a subterfuge and that the real purpose is to release politically-damaging information before the 2020 election, they likely will not rule in favor of the House.