good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. tonight for the very first time a federal judge has ruled on a key question in the escalating battle between the president and a congress that is attempting to investigate him. the ruling is not good for donald trump at all. you might remember earlier this month the president challenged a house oversight committee subpoena to his accounting firm for financial records relating to the president. his lawyers tried the fairly audacious argument before the judge that congress basically almost has no power to investigate the president. well, today in an expedited ruling, a federal judge laughed their argument out of court, saying, quote, 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. in other words, no, too bad, you