Donald Trump is not the first president to fight subpoenas

IN 1924 A Senate committee investigating the Teapot Dome bribery scandal issued a subpoena to Mal Daugherty, a bank president and brother of Harry Daugherty, who would soon resign as attorney-general. When Mal failed to appear the Senate dispatched its deputy sergeant-at-arms to Ohio to arrest him. Daugherty challenged his arrest, arguing that the Senate had exceeded its authority. The Supreme Court disagreed. Not only can Congress compel testimony essential to “a legislative function”; “it is to be presumed” that congressional investigations are intended “to aid [Congress] in legislating,” and “it is not a valid objection to such investigation that it might disclose wrongdoing or crime by a public officer.”

President Donald Trump has sued two banks to stop them complying with House subpoenas (see article), and asked a federal court to block another to an accounting firm used by the Trump Organisation. He has vowed to fight one subpoena issued to Don McGahn, a former White House counsel, and has ordered an official who oversaw White House security clearances not to comply with another. More subpoenas may soon follow. The House Ways and Means Committee wants Mr Trump’s tax returns, which he has declined...