Trump asks judge to reject NY AG Letitia James’ contempt request

Former President Donald Trump asked a judge to reject New York Lawyer Normal Letitia James’ bid to hold him in contempt for allegedly failing to comply with a subpoena as element of a civil investigation into his business enterprise.

A law firm for Trump argued in a court docket submitting Tuesday that the previous president complied with James’ subpoena when his lawful crew informed her that he does not have any of the paperwork she requested.

“After conducting a diligent look for and evaluate, Respondent’s counsel determined that Respondent was not in possession of any documents responsive to the Subpoena and that all most likely responsive documents were in the possession, custody or management of the Trump Firm,” Trump’s attorney Alina Habba wrote.

James is investigating allegations that the Trump Business misstated the values of some of its true estate property to get better money phrases when applying for financial loans and insurance coverage and for tax applications.

New York Supreme Court docket Choose Arthur Engoron in February denied requests by Trump, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. to toss out subpoenas issued to them by James.

Engoron also ordered Trump to “comply in whole” with a subpoena for him to generate further paperwork and facts to the investigators.

James on April 7 urged the decide to keep Trump in contempt of court docket, accusing the previous president of violating the court’s get. She also asked Engoron to slap Trump with a fantastic of $10,000 each day right up until he turns more than the documents.

“The judge’s buy was crystal distinct: Donald J. Trump have to comply with our subpoena and flip around pertinent paperwork to my office environment,” James said in a assertion at the time.

“Rather of obeying a courtroom get, Mr. Trump is trying to evade it. We are in search of the court’s immediate intervention for the reason that no a single is higher than the law,” James claimed.

Engoron is scheduled to hear oral arguments about the contempt dispute Monday afternoon.

In the court docket submitting Tuesday evening, Trump’s attorney speculated that the legal professional general’s place of work submitted the contempt motion “seemingly in an energy to transform this make any difference into a general public spectacle.”

Habba wrote that Trump followed the subpoena’s recommendations. She argued that Trump was not needed to supply any paperwork to the investigators that have been in the Trump Organization’s possession, if individuals documents had currently been created to James’ business office.

“This provision is significant because the Trump Group has independently produced a vast variety of documents to the [attorney general’s office] throughout the system of the topic investigation,” Habba wrote.

She also accused the attorney general’s workplace of refusing “to have interaction in great-religion discussions to handle the troubles at hand.”

Presented that “recalcitrant behavior, it is truthful to query [the attorney general’s] motive in bringing the instant application, which seems to be minimal more than a contrived publicity stunt,” Habba wrote.