Government

Trump Cries Witch Hunt As State Court Imposes $10,000 Daily Contempt Fine

Cry harder.

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(Photo by PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

Yesterday New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron held Donald Trump in contempt of court for failing to comply with a subpoena for documents in the New York Attorney General’s long-running investigation of his eponymous company.

“Mr. Trump, I know you take your business seriously, and I take mine seriously. I hereby hold you in civil contempt,” the judge ruled from the bench, before assessing a $10,000 per day fine until he complies with the discovery order. In a later written order, he found that “Mr. Trump has willfully disobeyed a lawful order of this court.”

In a contentious hearing yesterday morning, the parties repeated arguments they’d made in briefs about Trump’s failure to comply with a February 17 discovery order. The court signed a stipulation on March 3 instructing Trump to cough up the documents by March 31, a date Trump’s (competent) attorney Alan Futerfas appears to have agreed to in correspondence with the OAG.

But instead, Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba and her partner Michael Madaio (the other ones) turned over 16 pages of blather restating the objections already rejected by the court, after which the OAG moved to hold Trump in contempt.

Habba spent the morning insisting that the requested documents relating to his financial statements either do not exist or are in possession of the Trump Organization, and so Trump bears no responsibility for going into his own office and locating them. This argument, along with Habba’s loud restatement of the opinion that this entire investigation is an illegal witch hunt, failed to persuade the court.

“Boilerplate doesn’t cut it,” Justice Engoron told Habba, dismissing the vague handwaving in the direction of her own affidavit as insufficiently specific to persuade the court that Trump and his counsel engaged in a diligent search for documents. In his written order, the judge characterized Habba’s response as “16 pages of boilerplate objections along with a four-page affirmation by counsel that states, summarily, that Mr. Trump was unable to locate any responsive documents in his custody. The affirmation fails to identify which search methods were employed, where they were employed, by whom they were employed, and when such searches took place.” He also noted that the proper method of contesting the subpoena was via a motion to quash, not by answering with a giant middle finger. Additionally, he faulted Trump for failing to submit an affidavit himself, “which this court believes would have been the best practice, as he is the most obvious person to affirm where any responsive documents in his possession, custody, and control would be located[.]”

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But other than that, great job!

Law & Crime reports that Habba, displaying her usual good judgment, was barely outside the courtroom before she vowed to appeal and criticized the decision as “crazy” and “inappropriate.”

Meanwhile Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen took to his podcast to say that he knows the documents about the valuations of Trump properties produced in conjunction with his financial statements do exist, and that he handed some of them over to Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance (later replaced by Alvin Bragg).

And the contempt ruling wasn’t the only bad news for Trump yesterday.

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On April 8, the OAG filed a motion to compel Cushman & Wakefield, Trump’s longtime appraisers, to comply with a subpoenas for documents related to the real estate valuations under investigation. As we pointed out at the time, the filing strongly suggested that Cushman had been cooperating, but started stonewalling after a March 3, 2022 letter in which the OAG suggested that the appraisers themselves might be in the crosshairs for their work on Trump’s building at 40 Wall Street.

“First, our investigation is not limited to the actions of the Trump Organization,” Assistant AG Austin Thompson wrote. “We are also investigating whether any other parties may have engaged in fraudulent or misleading practices in connection with certain commercial transactions involving the Trump Organization.”

Justice Engoron ordered Cushman to quit fooling around and give the subpoenaed docs to the OAG. So, all in all, not a great day for Team Trump.

“Today, justice prevailed,” Attorney General Tish James crowed. “For years, Donald Trump has tried to evade the law and stop our lawful investigation into him and his company’s financial dealings. Today’s ruling makes clear: No one is above the law.”

‘Boilerplate Doesn’t Cut It’: Judge Finds Donald Trump in Contempt of Court for Flouting an Order to Comply with Letitia James’ Subpoena [Law & Crime]

Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

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