New York AG Letitia James Asks Judge To Hold Trump In Contempt & Fine $10,000 Per Day

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) asked a state court on Thursday to hold former President Donald Trump in civil contempt after claiming that he refused to comply with a court order that required him to turn over documents by March 31 as a part of her investigation into the Trump Organization‘s financial practices. If Trump continues to resist handing over the documents, James’ office asked that he be ordered to pay a $10,000 per day fine.

James’ office alleged that Trump “did not comply at all” with the subpoena. The court filing said that March 31 was a date agreed upon by both parties, but Trump attorneys claimed that they couldn’t hand over the documents because they couldn’t find them.

“President Trump left The Trump Organization in 2017 and any responsive documents were previously provided to the AG by The Trump Organization,” a Trump spokesperson said in the statement released on Thursday. “This is just more harassment and the latest chapter in the AG’s continued witch hunt.”

James responded that Trump was “highly likely to have been in possession, custody or control of numerous documents.”

The attorney general’s probe surrounds potential fraud in the organization’s valuation process of real estate such as Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. The investigation found that statements used by outsiders to evaluate the financial condition of the organization do not match the ones the Trump Organization accountant’s received. Longtime Trump accounting firm Mazars USA deemed their years of financial statements unusable back in February.

Trump maintains that he and his organization have not done anything wrong.

Article by Rose Carter