Judge rejects Trump bid to shield trust records from NY AG

By Kara Scannell | CNN

A federal judge in Florida on Wednesday denied former President Donald Trump’s request to block the New York attorney general’s office from seeking materials from his private trust.

Judge Donald Middlebrooks ruled that the attorney general’s office “raises four reasons — all of which are likely correct — why Plaintiff has no substantial likelihood of success on the merits.”

Among them, the judge said it is not obvious that Florida’s trust laws were “intended to reach government officials lawfully bringing enforcement actions for alleged fraud.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office subpoenaed records relating to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, which Trump used to hold his companies when he became president in 2017. In August, attorneys with James’ office emailed Trump’s attorneys requesting certain trust documents they had sought through a subpoena. The following month, James sued Trump, his three eldest children and the Trump Organization for a decade-long fraud.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

Last month Trump sued James in Florida to try to block her access to the trust records. Trump alleged the trust is protected by privacy rights in the Florida Constitution and that James is trying to control, gain access to, and publicly reveal the terms of the trust.

In denying the motion for a preliminary injunction the judge found Trump’s claims that he would be harmed by turning over records to the attorney general’s office to be “quintessentially speculative” since the state had indicated in email exchanges with Trump’s attorneys that it would receive documents with redactions of estate-planning portions.