New York Attorney General Letitia James announced her office filed a motion to hold former President Donald Trump in civil contempt of court.
The prosecutor claims Trump failed to turn over key documents for her inquiry into possible fraud committed by the Trump Organization despite a court order. If a court approves her motion, Trump could be fined $10,000 every day he continues violating the order.
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“Despite a crystal clear order from the court, Donald Trump has refused to turn over documents as part of our investigation into him and the Trump Organization’s financial dealings,” she tweeted. “No one is above the law.”
NEW YORK JUSTICE ORDERS TRUMP ORGANIZATION TO COMPLY WITH ATTORNEY GENERAL SUBPOENA
The motion, filed in New York County State Supreme Court on Thursday, comes on the heels of a court ruling in February dismissing Trump’s effort to quash James’s subpoenas. Judge Arthur Engoron of the Manhattan Supreme Court ordered him to share the request documents with the attorney general’s office within 14 days.
James noted that her office agreed to extend the deadline to March 31 and that Trump “agreed to this timeline and never sought to challenge this aspect of the order on appeal.” On the day of the deadline, however, Trump raised new objections and declined to produce the documents, according to James.
“Under settled law, a party is not permitted to delay proceedings at this advanced juncture in the legal process to challenge an investigative subpoena, so Mr. Trump does not have the ability to raise these baseless objections at this time,” James said in a press release.
Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump were also ordered to appear for deposition within 21 days of the February ruling. Thursday’s motion is only directed at Donald Trump. Late last month, the Trumps filed a challenge with the state appeals court to Engoron’s ruling calling for their deposition before the attorney general.
James’s office began an investigation into the Trump Organization in 2019 after former Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen testified before Congress that the company manipulated its asset valuations for tax and business benefits. James has issued subpoenas against the Trump Organization and has sought information from firms that have collaborated with the company as part of her investigation.
“So far, the investigation has uncovered significant evidence potentially indicating that, for more than a decade, these financial statements relied on misleading asset valuations and other misrepresentations to secure economic benefits,” her office wrote in a court filing last month.
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The former president has denied any wrongdoing and criticized the inquiry as being politically motivated, telling James her investigation is “just a continuation of the political Witch Hunt that has gone on against me by the Radical Left Democrats for years” in a statement last year.
