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Judge holds Trump in contempt of documents in New York AG investigation


A New York judge on Monday declared Donald J. Trump contempt in court for not turning over documents to the state’s attorney general, an unusual rebuke for the former president.

The judge, Arthur F. Engoron, ordered Mr. Trump to comply with the subpoena to search the records and assess the fine of $10,000 per day until he met the court’s requirements. In essence, the judge concluded that Mr. Trump did not cooperate with attorney general Letitia James and obeyed the court order.

“Mr. Trump: I know you take your business very seriously, and I value my job too,” said Judge Engoron of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, before Mr. throb.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers have argued that they conducted a thorough search of the records being sought by investigators and found no new material to provide. But Justice Engoron decided that the attorneys did not provide full details of how they sought.

The contempt order can be short-lived. If Alina Habba, one of Mr. Trump’s attorneys, filed a sworn statement detailing every step that was taken to identify the potential documents, the judge could be pleased, the attorneys close to Mr. said the case. Ms. Habba said after the hearing ended that she intended to file such a statement, potentially by the end of the day.

Ms. Habba also said she intends to appeal the ruling.

“All the documents responding to the subpoena were presented to the attorney general many months ago,” Ms. Habba said. “This doesn’t even meet the standard of a contempt petition.”

At the hearing, Justice Engoron challenged an earlier statement by Mr Trump’s lawyers regarding their efforts to find the document, calling it “unfortunately insufficient” and a “duplicate”.

It failed, he said, to outline “what, who, where, when and how and conduct any searches”.

The ruling – and Justice Engoron’s comments – represent a significant victory for Ms James, who is conducting a civil investigation into whether Mr. annual or not.

In January, Ms. James, a Democrat, said her office had concluded that the Trump Organization had engaged in “fraudulent or misleading” practices related to the claims. But she said she would continue to investigate before deciding whether to sue Mr Trump or his company.

Although Ms. James does not have the authority to file criminal charges, Her civil investigation is running parallel to the criminal investigation led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggwho is testing some similar conduct.

Ms. James’s office is engaged in that separate investigation, likely close to Mr. Trump’s indictment earlier this year, before Mr Bragg raised concerns about prosecutors’ ability to prove the case. . Mr. Bragg, also a Democrat, inherited the investigation from his predecessor after taking office on January 1.

Monday’s ruling presents a roadblock for Mr. Trump as he continues to battle the attorney general’s investigation. Ms. James has sought to question the former president and his two children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., as part of her investigation, and attorneys for the Trump family are seeking to block the questioning. (In the fall of 2020, Ms. James questioned another of Mr. Trump’s children, Eric Trump, as part of her investigation.)

In March, Justice Engoron sided with James, ordering the removal of Mr. Trump and his children. Trump has appealed that ruling.

This month, attorneys from Ms. James’s office said that Mr. Trump had refused to turn over documents under eight separate requests, and called for him to be disregarded and fined $10,000 daily as long as he continued. custom no. cooperate.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers have said the requests are “gross” and do not describe “sufficiently” the requested documents.

Ms. Habba said in a document filed in court last week that Mr. Trump did not have any of the documents James had requested and that any such documents, if they existed, would be in the possession of Mr. owned by the Trump Organization. .

She added that Ms James had filed the contempt lawsuit without warning, “apparently in an attempt to turn this matter into a public spectacle.”

However, lawyers for Ms. James’ office said they believe at least some of Mr. Trump’s documents have yet to be exposed. In one filing, her attorneys referred to a filing cabinet at the company that contained the former chairman’s files and noted that he used Post-it notes to pass messages to employees. .

According to Ms. James, Mr. Trump’s lawyer said that a file of Mr. Trump’s correspondence had not been searched, in part because the business had determined that Mr. Trump was not involved in the preparation of its own financial statements. .

Ms. James called that assertion unlikely and referred to a statement attached to the financial statements that read: “Donald J. Trump is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation” of the valuations. .

In a separate case in federal court, Mr. Trump sued James, seeking to block her civil investigation and requesting her removal from the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal investigation. That case is happening.



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