Trump found in contempt of court

NEW YORK — A New York judge Monday held former President Donald Trump in contempt of court for failing to turn over documents to the state’s attorney general.

Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to comply with a subpoena seeking records and assessed a fine of $10,000 per day until he satisfies the court’s requirements. In essence, the judge concluded that Trump had failed to cooperate with the attorney general, Letitia James, and follow the court’s orders.

“Mr. Trump: I know you take your business seriously and I take mine seriously,” said Engoron of the state Supreme Court in Manhattan, before he held Trump in contempt and banged his gavel.

Trump lawyer Alina Habba said in court Monday that there was a “very diligent search” for the records and that none were found aside from documents that had already been handed over. But Engoron decided the attorneys had not provided sufficient detail about how they searched.

The contempt order could be lifted quickly if Habba provides a detailed accounting of her team’s search and Engoron finds that explanation sufficient. Habba also said she intended to appeal the ruling.

“All documents responsive to the subpoena were produced to the attorney general months ago,” Habba said. “This does not even come close to meeting the standard on a motion for contempt.”

At the hearing, Engoron objected to an earlier statement from Trump’s attorneys regarding their efforts to search for documents, calling it “woefully insufficient” and “boilerplate.”

It failed, he said, to outline “what, who, where, when and how any search was conducted.”

The ruling — and Engoron’s comments — represent a significant victory for James, whose office is conducting a civil investigation into whether Trump falsely inflated the value of his assets in annual financial statements.

In James’ civil investigation, which began in 2019, the Trump Organization has provided more than 6 million pages of records. But investigators are still seeking items from Trump’s personal files.

In January, James, a Democrat, said her office had concluded that the Trump Organization had engaged in “fraudulent or misleading” practices involving the statements. But she said she would continue to investigate before deciding whether to sue Trump or his company.

Investigators involved in the probe have said that while Trump did not use email or text messages in conducting his business, they are seeking Post-it Notes and other handwritten missives that could shed light on internal deliberations at the Trump Organization — specifically related to Trump’s statements of financial condition that he routinely provided to banks and other parties.

Although James does not have the authority to file criminal charges, her civil inquiry is running parallel to a criminal investigation led by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, who is examining some of the same conduct.

James’ office is participating in that separate investigation, which had appeared to be nearing an indictment of Trump earlier this year, before Bragg raised concerns about prosecutors’ ability to prove their case. Bragg, also a Democrat, inherited the inquiry from his predecessor after taking office Jan. 1.

N.Y. INQUIRY

The ruling Monday presents a roadblock for Trump as he continues to battle the attorney general’s investigation.

James has sought to question the former president and two of his children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., as part of her inquiry. Attorneys for the Trump family are seeking to block the questioning.

In the fall of 2020, James questioned another of Trump’s children, Eric Trump, as part of her investigation.

In March, Engoron sided with James, ordering Donald Trump and his children to be deposed. The Trumps have appealed that ruling.

This month, lawyers from James’ office said Trump had declined to turn over documents in response to eight separate requests, and called for him to be held in contempt and assessed a daily fine of $10,000 as long as he continued to not cooperate.

Trump’s attorneys had said the requests were “grossly overbroad” and did not “adequately” describe the requested materials.

Habba said in a document filed with the court last week that Trump did not have any of the documents that James had requested and that any such documents, if they existed, would be in the possession of the Trump Organization.

She added that James had filed the motion for contempt without warning, “seemingly in an effort to turn this matter into a public spectacle.” But lawyers for James’ office said they believe that at least some of Trump’s documents have not been turned over.

Habba, during questioning by Engoron, called Trump “an honest person, much to the dismay of certain people in this room.”

In one filing, her lawyers mentioned a filing cabinet at the company that contained the former president’s files and noted that he used Post-it Notes to pass messages to employees.

According to James, Trump’s attorney said that a file of Trump’s correspondence had not been searched, in part because the business had determined that Trump was not involved in preparing his own financial statements.

James called that assertion improbable and referred to a statement affixed to the financial statements that says: “Donald J. Trump is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation” of the valuations.

Also at Monday’s hearing, a lawyer for James’ office said an “enforcement action” may soon be taken in the long-running civil investigation. James has the ability to sue over her findings, a move that could result in significant financial penalties and other repercussions for Trump’s family real estate and golf resort operation if they are found to be in violation of the law.

In a separate case in federal court, Trump sued James, seeking to halt her civil inquiry and have her removed from the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal investigation. That case is ongoing.

The former president is also the target of several other high-profile political and legal probes involving issues that include his conduct around the 2020 election results, a defamation lawsuit filed by author and columnist E. Jean Carroll, and his removal of White House records to Mar-a-Lago.

Information for this article was contributed by Jonah E. Bromwich, Ben Protess and William K. Rashbaum of The New York Times and by Shayna Jacobs of The Washington Post.