Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Judge: Trump owes court for contempt
NEW YORK — A New York judge said Wednesday he will lift Donald Trump’s contempt of court order if the former president meets conditions including paying $110,000 in fines he’s racked up for being slow to respond to a civil subpoena issued by the state’s attorney general.
Judge Arthur Engoron said he will end his contempt finding if Trump submits additional paperwork by May 20 detailing efforts to search for the subpoenaed records and explaining his and his company’s document retention policies.
Engoron declared Trump in contempt on April 25 and fined him $10,000 per day for not complying with a subpoena in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ long-running investigation into Trump’s business practices.
James, a Democrat, has said her three-year investigation uncovered evidence that Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, misstated the value of assets such as skyscrapers and golf courses on financial statements for over a decade.
Trump, a Republican, denies the allegations. He has called James’ investigation “racist” and a politically motivated “witch hunt.” James is Black. Trump’s lawyers have accused her of selective prosecution.
Engoron ordered Trump to pay $110,000 because that is the total amount of fines he accrued through May 6, when Trump’s lawyers submitted 66 pages of court documents detailing the efforts by him and his lawyers to locate the subpoenaed records.
The judge required that a company hired by Trump to aid in the search, HaystackID, finish going through 17 boxes kept at an off-site storage facility, and for that company to report its findings and turn over any relevant documents.
Engoron said he could reinstate the fine, retroactive to May 7, if his conditions aren’t met. He told Trump to pay the money directly to James’ office and for the attorney general to hold the money in an escrow account while Trump’s legal team appeals the original contempt finding.
In a statement Wednesday, James praised Engoron’s handling of the contempt allegation.
“For years, Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization have tried to thwart our lawful investigation, but today’s decision makes clear that no one can evade accountability,” James said in a statement.
A message seeking comment was left with Trump’s lawyer.
The legal battle between James and Trump also played out Wednesday in a mid-level state appeals court, which heard arguments in a related matter: Trump and his two eldest children’s appeal of Engoron’s Feb. 17 ruling requiring them to answer questions under oath in the civil investigation.
Trump lawyer Alan Futerfas said James was engaging in a trick to get around a state law that requires immunity for people testifying before a criminal grand jury. He also criticized Engoron for not holding a hearing to explore the nature of coordination between James’ office and the district attorney’s office.
The court did not give a timetable for a decision.
James had asked Engoron to find Trump in contempt of court after he failed to produce any documents to satisfy a March 31 deadline to meet the terms of her subpoena. She sought documents pertaining to his annual financial statements, development projects, and even communications with Forbes magazine, where he sought to burnish his image as a wealthy businessman.
In a separate sworn affidavit included with the filing, Trump said he’d turned over all the relevant documents.