Judge rejects Trump's bid to end a contempt-of-court order that is costing him $10,000 a day
A New York judge on Friday rejected former President Donald Trump's attempt to end a contempt-of-court finding, according to CNBC.
In a sworn affidavit in response to the Manhattan judge holding him in contempt of court, Trump said this week that he was not in possession of the documents he needed to hand over in response to a subpoena, Bloomberg reported.
Trump is being fined $10,000 a day for “willfully” disobeying an order to comply with a subpoena issued by New York Attorney General Letitia James back in December.
“If there are any documents responsive to the subpoena I believe they would be in the possession or custody of the Trump Organization,” he said in the affidavit. Trump currently owes the court $40,000.
NEW: #Trump signed affidavit swearing he does \u201cnot\u201d have in his personal possession \u201cany of the documents requested\u201d in NYAG\u2019s subpoena from Dec 1, 2021. Adds that, if there are any docs responsive to the subpoena, he believes they wd be in possession or custody of the Trump Orgpic.twitter.com/R8dLWIdRmH— Marta Dhanis (@Marta Dhanis) 1651248481
As Bloomberg points out, the Trump Organization has handed over more than 6 million pages of records in response to subpoenas. James’s office claims that only 10 appear to belong to Trump.
"I am surprised he doesn't seem to have any documents, they're all with the organization," Judge Arthur Engoron said.
Engoron last week ruled in favor of James, who is pursuing a civil probe into the ex-president and the Trump Organization.
James successfully argued that Trump was in violation of a court order to produce the accounting and tax documents to her investigators by March 31.
"In a major victory, a court has ruled in our favor to hold Donald Trump in contempt of court," she wrote on Twitter.
"Donald Trump must pay $10,000 per day for every day that he continues to defy the court's order to turn over documents to my office," James added.
In January, James said her investigation had uncovered evidence suggesting the fraudulent valuing of multiple assets and misrepresentation of those values for economic benefit.
Among the assets listed was Trump's penthouse in Manhattan's Trump Tower, which was claimed to be three times bigger in size than it actually was, overestimating its value by $200 million.
James can sue the Trump Organization for damages over any alleged financial misconduct but cannot file criminal charges.
The Trumps have claimed that James, who was elected to her position and is a member of the Democratic Party, is running a politically motivated probe.
With additional reporting from AFP