Donald Trump will remain in contempt of court for stymying NY Attorney General Letitia James’ probe of his business, a judge ruled.Trump is being fined $10K a day for failing to comply with the AG’s subpoena for his personal business documents.The judge has repeatedly questioned why Trump hasn’t sworn a statement detailing where he had searched for documents before coming up empty.Sign up for our weekday newsletter, packed with original analysis, news, and trends — delivered right to your inbox.Donald Trump will remain in contempt of court and must continue to pay a $10,000-a-day fine to New York’s Attorney General for failing to comply with her subpoena for his personal business documents, a Manhattan judge has ruled.
The decision came Friday in a hastily-called conference before the judge who presides over the multiple subpoena battles between Trump and AG Letitia James.
“I’m disappointed that Mr.Trump hasn’t been more forthcoming,” the judge, New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, said during the conference.”Where did he keep files? I’m assuming it wasn’t all in his head?”
Read the judge’s opinion here .
A Trump lawyer begged for the fines to end A lawyer for Trump had hoped that the conference would end with the judge at least lifting the heavy fine, if not the contempt order that imposed the fine.
“I will give you additional information until you feel satisfied,” Trump attorney Alina Habba told the judge.
“I will do whatever you want to show you there’s really nothing left in his custody,” in the way of documents, she told the judge at another point.”What he has in his possession you already have.”
But Engoron said that the contempt order will remain in effect until Trump swears out an affidavit that clearly describes the “who, what, where and when” of his search for the personal business documents James wants for her three year probe of the Trump Organization.
Trump’s one-page affidavit was not enough A cautiously-worded one-page affidavit that Trump swore to on Wednesday was deemed insufficient by the judge.
That affidavit, signed in Sharpie by the former president before a Palm Beach County, Fla., notary public, asserted that he has no more documents “in my personal possession” to turn over to the AG probe.
“If there are any documents responsive to the subpoena I believe they would be in the possession or custody of the Trump Organization,” he added.
“Obviously,” AG attorney Andrew Amer said at the conference, “Mr.
Trump’s affidavit says not much at all.”
Engoron agreed.
“I would have liked him to say, here is where I keep my records,” the judge told the parties.
And what about the ‘Post-its?’ “He’s famous, I believe, for Post-its,” the judge continued.”When he wants something done, he puts a Post-it on it,” the judge added, citing a deposition from Trump Organization lawyer Alan Garten.Yet no such sticky notes have been turned over, the judge said.
“He doesn’t have any Post-its,” Habba snapped back, in one of the conference’s odder moments.”That’s a comment that was made by Mr.Garten that’s become a very press-heavy thing,” she said, adding, “It’s actually comical.”
In response to an AG subpoena, Garten had told the AG last summer that “Mr.Trump had assistants who maintained files on his behalf, that he received and maintained hard copy documents, and that he used Post-it Notes to communicate with employees,” according to an AG filing from January.
The judge said he may at some point reconsider the imposition of the fine.
“If you don’t hear from me, it’s still in effect,” he told Trump’s lawyer.
“The clock is still ticking.”
Where did Trump look? What did he look for? The contempt order, however, will remain until Trump swears out a more detailed affidavit explaining where documents were searched for and why those searches came up empty, the judge said.
“I want to know who did these searches,” Engoron told Trump’s lawyer.
“Where did they look? When did they look? What were they looking for?”
The judge suggested a second avenue for getting out of contempt.
An independent document-search firm, HaystackID is completing a court-ordered search for all Trump Organization documents.
That independent search will wrap up within two weeks, with final tranches of records due on May 6 for office-stored documents, and May 13 for off-site storage documents, AG attorney Kevin C.Wallace told the judge.
The judge replied that those search results may ultimately answer the AG’s remaining document questions.
“Obviously I’ll take, as the Attorney General has agreed, I’ll take what they [HaystackID] say at face value, whether it’s May 6, or May 13 or May 1st.And we’ll look at the situation then.We’ll see if there’s been compliance.”
$10K-a-day since Tuesday Trump was found in contempt on Monday.The fines began to accumulate on Tuesday, when the judge issued his written contempt order.
At the hearing, Habba insisted that Trump, through the Trump Organization, has already turned over all the documents he has to the AG’s investigation, which is probing whether Trump lied about the worth of his real estate assets in order to secure millions in loans and tax breaks.
“I don’t want to do this dance back and forth,” she said during the hour-long conference, which was held via video.
“I don’t have more documents to give you.So you can fine us for ten months, but you’re not going to get any more documents from Mr.
Trump.”
Lawyers for the AG’s office countered Trump was issued a separate document subpoena in December because two years of Trump Organization searches for Trump’s documents had “lots of problems,” as one of the AG’s attorneys, Amer, said.
“We don’t believe those searches were done correctly, thoroughly, or adequately,” Amer told the judge.
How do you know that, the judge asked.
“We’ve been reading the Haystacks reports,” which is turning up documents that the Trump Organization had not initially produced, Amer answered.”There’s huge gaps and holes,” Amer said.
As of Thursday, Trump owed James’ office — as the aggrieved party in the contempt order — $30,000 in fines .That total will rise Friday to $40,000.
Trump will appeal the contempt order and fine, said Habba, who has already filed a notice of appeal in the case.
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