House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings sent a letter Wednesday demanding one of President Trump’s accountants detail how it determined the size of his wealth, saying he believed the president may have been inflating and deflating his value.

In one nine-month period Mr. Trump saw his assets rise by $4.2 billion in 2013, chiefly on the strength of a “brand value” line that was added in.

The figures were taken from financial records produced to the Oversight Committee by former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who has turned against his one-time boss.

Mr. Cummings says Mr. Trump also listed debts dating back to 2012 in his public financial disclosure forms he filed as a presidential candidate in 2015, but those debts don’t appear in the 2012 forms written by the financial advisor.

Meanwhile a $125 million loan that was listed in 2012 at one interest rate had a lower rate in the 2015 financial disclosure.

Mr. Cummings ordered the accounting firm, Mazars USA LLP, to explain the discrepancies by April 3.

Mr. Cummings, Maryland Democrat, also blasted the Republicans on his committee, who he said appeared to be trying to undermine the demand for documents.

“If they had their way, the Committee would just close up shop for the next two years, but that is not what the American people elected us to do,” Mr. Cummings said. “We are following-up on specific allegations regarding the president’s actions based on corroborating documents obtained by the committee, and we will continue our efforts to conduct credible, robust, and independent oversight.”

Cohen appeared before the committee last month and reported on some of the dealings he said he was involved with during his time working for Mr. Trump.

He has, however, admitted to misleading the committee on one key area when he claimed he did not ask for a pardon from the president.

He now admits he did ask for a pardon, but says when he said “never” he actually meant never. He instead meant after a certain date.

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