New York judge holds Trump in civil contempt for failing to comply with subpoena

Washington [US], April 26 (ANI)

A New York judge on Monday (local time) held Donald Trump in civil contempt and fined him USD 10,000 per day, following the former president's failure to comply with a subpoena for business documents related to an investigation by the state attorney general's office.

Judge Arthur Engoron said Trump failed to abide by his order to comply with the subpoena, and that his attorneys failed to show how a search of materials held by Trump was conducted, CNN reported. Referring to Trump, Engoron said, "I know you take your business seriously and I take mine seriously. I hereby hold you in civil contempt and fine you USD 10,000 per day until you purge that contempt."

A written decision with a start date for fines is expected Tuesday (local time).

Trump attorney Alina Habba said, "We respectfully disagree with the court's decision today."

Habba added, "All documents, as I explained, responsive to the subpoena were already produced to the attorney general months ago," CNN reported.

New York Attorney General Letitia James' office has been investigating the Trump Organization for more than two years.

James previously said that her office found multiple misleading or fraudulent misstatements and omissions in the Trump Organization's financial statements, which were provided to lenders and insurers, among others, as part of its investigation, as per CNN.

Andrew Amer, with the attorney general's office, said that Trump has failed to produce "even a single responsive document" for a subpoena that was issued to him in December.

"We are being hampered in our efforts to have a complete understanding because we don't have evidence from the person who sits at the top of the organization," Amer said.

In court, Habba said the former president does not believe he is above the law, but simply does not have the types of written communications that were sought by the subpoena, but that he produced hundreds of thousands of documents through his assistants, CNN reported.

The judge asked why Trump didn't sign an affidavit swearing that he complied with the subpoena. In response, Habba said that "he would".

"My client is an honest person, much to the dismay of certain people in this room," Habba said, according to CNN.

James' office has said in court filings that the Trump Organization is under investigation for engaging in fraudulent or misleading conduct in connection with appraisals and financial statements. The office has subpoenaed both the former president and his company for documents related to its investigation.

Habba argued that the attorney general's investigation has "seemingly become aimless," saying that since it began three years ago, the Trump Organization has been given six separate subpoenas, produced more than 6 million pages of documents, and 13 Trump Organization witnesses have been deposed, among other things, CNN reported.