Letitia James, New York Attorney General filed a motion asking the court to order former President Donald Trump to be held in contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena.
The motion was filed at the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan on Thursday. It states that Trump “did not comply at all” to the subpoena’s request for information and documents requested by James’s office before the March 31 deadline.
James stated in a statement that “The judge’s order is clear: Donald J. Trump must obey our subpoena, and turn over relevant documents my office.” Mr. Trump is attempting to evade a court order rather than complying with it. We want the court to intervene immediately because no one is above law.”
Statements of financial condition and other related documents, records relating the valuation of assets, documents related to policies and tax-related records, including records of the IRS auditing him, are some of the documents requested.
James, a Democrat has spent over two years investigating whether Trump Organization misled tax officials or banks about the asset value. This included inflating the assets to obtain favorable loan terms, or minimizing them to get tax savings.
According to the attorney general’s office, Trump objected to subpoena requests and claimed that they were not available or that they are in the possession of the Trump Organization. This claim requires time.
James’s office stated in a court filing that “This Court’s Order was not an opening bid to a negotiation or an invitation to a new round for challenges of the subpoena.” “It was, instead, a court decision entered after thorough briefing and argument, during which Mr. Trump could, but didn’t, raise any of his purported objections or assertions.”
Amy Carlin, Trump’s attorney, wrote a letter to court on March 22 stating that, among other things the Trump Organization would comply with James’s request to turn over documents by April 15. Judge Arthur Engoron gave them an order to comply by March 28. Both sides were to attend a conference on April 25.
Fox News reached Carlin to get her opinion on the motion of the attorney general, but she didn’t immediately respond.
Now, the attorney general’s Office is asking the court for $10,000 in fines to Trump for each day that Trump does not turn over all requested documents. This includes the costs and fees James spent filing the motion.
