Donald Trump s lawyers are all but daring Congress to launch an impeachment inquiry into the presidents alleged crimes.

On May 20, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta knocked down the dubious argument made by Trumps lawyers that Congress has no legitimate legislative purpose to obtain the presidents financial records, which have been subpoenaed by the Oversight and Reform Committee. Mehta ruled that Congress has broad investigatory powers that should not solely be limited to impeachment.

It is simply not fathomable that a Constitution that grants Congress the power to remove a President for reasons including criminal behavior would deny Congress the power to investigate him for unlawful conduct past or present even without formally opening an impeachment inquiry, Mehta wrote.

In their brief filed Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenging a congressional subpoena for financial records held by Trumps accounting firm, the presidents lawyers argued that the court should not consider the inherent non-legislative powers of Congress impeachment if it is not actively going down that path. The brief goes on to cite Speaker Nancy Pelosi s (D-Calif.) repeated denials that the House is engaged in impeachment proceedings for the president.

Trumps lawyers also argued that Mehta had no right to invoke the impeachment power in ruling for Congress, when the Oversight and Reform Committee did not mention impeachment in its brief before Mehta or in its subpoena for the documents. In doing so, the presidents lawyers are directly arguing that Congress would have more authority if they were to subpoena for documents as part of an impeachment inquiry. [T]he Constitution also grants Congress non-legislative powers, the brief states, adding, And the House and Senate can, respectively, impeach and try impeachments.

House Democrats are currently embroiled in an internal battle about whether to launch an impeachment inquiry . Around 60 House members have called for an inquiry , but Democratic leadership has deflected by arguing that they should focus on passing legislation (which will go nowhere in the Senate) while getting to the bottom of Trumps corruption through the ordinary investigative process .