Trump Held in Contempt of Court Over Subpoenas in N.Y. Probe

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Donald Trump was held in contempt of court for failing to turn over records in New York’s probe of asset valuations at his sprawling real estate company, and must pay $10,000 a day until he complies. Monday’s ruling, which adds pressure on the former president as New York Attorney General Letitia James seeks to wrap up her investigation, came after a lawyer for James said at a hearing that the state is likely to bring an enforcement action against the Trump Organization “in the near future.” It is a significant victory for James, a Democrat, who for months has accused Trump of ignoring outstanding subpoenas even as his company has handed over more than 6 million pages of corporate documents. Trump, the most prominent Republican in the party, has argued that he is the target of a political vendetta and that he has no more records to hand over, especially since he doesn’t use a computer. New York state court judge Arthur Engoron said at the hearing in Manhattan that Trump or his lawyer should have provided a sworn affidavit detailing the effort to search his records. “There is no admissible evidence of what, who, when, where and how any search was conducted,” Engoron found. Trump’s response so far, he said, “doesn’t cut it.” The civil contempt finding comes as James works to determine if the Trump Organization used fraudulent asset valuations for years to get better terms on loans and insurance coverage and to secure millions of dollars in tax refunds for donated land. Trump and two of his adult children are fighting a separate battle with James over whether they should be forced to sit for sworn depositions. She has said the investigation has already uncovered “significant” evidence that misleading valuations on some of Trump’s biggest properties have been used in financial statements relied on by banks and insurers. “For years, Donald Trump has tried to evade the law and stop our lawful investigation into him and his company’s financial dealings,” James said in a statement after the ruling. “Today’s ruling makes clear: No one is above the law.”