A Washington lawyer has filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump over the allegation of obscuring his personal debts on his federal financial disclosure form. The case, filed in Washington this week, has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.
According to Politico, Attorney Jeffrey Lovitky filed the case in the federal court, claiming that Trump's May 2016 disclosure blurs the real extent of his personal indebtedness and loans made to development projects and businesses Trump is involved with. The listed loans exceed $300 million in total, according to the 104-page disclosure report that covers all Trump's debts.
However, the total amount of the loans is known to be larger based on other data. "Really, the question is concerning the liabilities held by the LLCs," Lovitky said. "We just need more information to be able to know whether or not those are personal or business liabilities."
While Trump's businesses are already facing four lawsuits over allegations of unfair competition or violations of the Constitution's foreign emoluments clause, Lovitky's lawsuit makes no claims of impropriety. It simply alleges that the public is being deprived of accurate information pertaining Trump's debts.
Lovitky said he wrote to White House counsel Don McGahn in January to ask Trump to file a revised financial disclosure form but received no reply. Unlike other presidential candidates in the previous decades, Trump has declined to make his tax returns public, although portions of a couple of returns have turned up in the press, according to American NewsX.
Some of Trump's largest reported loans are from the large German bank, Deutsche Bank. Lovitky seeks no damages through the lawsuit and expressed his concern over possible conflicts of interest in the Trump administration's dealings. He also hopes Trump will simply refile the form rather than fighting the suit.
