Judge Denies Trump’s Request to Lift Contempt Order, Will Have to Pay $10,000 Per Day Despite New Affidavit Swearing He Can’t Find Subpoenaed Docs
Earlier this week New York Judge Arthur Engoron held Donald Trump in contempt and ordered a fine of $10,000 per day that he refuses to turn over documents to New York Attorney General Letitia James.
During a hearing on Monday, the judge considered James’ contempt request.
“Mr. Trump, I know you take your business seriously, and I take mine seriously, I hereby hold you in civil contempt and fine you $10,000 a day,” Engoron ruled.
The documents that James is requesting relate to the Trump Organization’s business dealings. She claims that the organization manipulated property values for tax purposes.
Trump’s lawyers submitted sworn affidavits arguing the former president cannot find the subpoenaed documents.
A New York Judge denied Trump’s the request and kept the contempt of court ruling in place.
Trump will have to pay $10,000 per day until his lawyers do a more thorough search of “all of Trump’s mobile phones, Trump Tower in Manhattan, each of Trump’s properties where he maintains a “private residence” and “personal office,” off-site storage locations, and in “all electronic devices issued by the Trump Organization to Trump’s executive assistants.”
CNBC reported:
A New York judge Friday denied a request by lawyers for former President Donald Trump to lift a contempt of court finding despite the submission of new sworn affidavits from Trump and his attorneys that argue he has complied with a subpoena from the state attorney general.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron said that the new affidavits attesting to Trump’s and others’ inability to locate documents sought by Attorney General Letitia James were not sufficient to purge Trump of being held in contempt. And Engoron ordered Trump to submit a more detailed affidavit swearing to information related to the search for the requested documents.
In a letter to Engoron, lawyers for James said that he should not lift the contempt order, which has a $10,000-per-day fine against Trump attached to it, until more extensive searches for the documents are conducted than the ones Trump’s lawyers said had been done.
Engoron effectively agreed, writing in an order later Friday that the affidavits filed by Trump and his lawyers “are insufficient in that they fail to specify who searched for each respective request, at what time, where, and using what search protocols.”
“Furthermore, Mr. Trump’s personal affidavit is completely devoid of any useful detail,” the judge wrote. “Notably, it fails to state where he kept his files, how his files were stored in the regular course of business, who had access to such files, what, if any, the retention policy was for such files, and, importantly, where he believes such files are currently located.”
