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

Previous President Donald Trump requested a decide to reject New York Legal professional Basic Letitia James’ bid to hold him in contempt for allegedly failing to comply with a subpoena as part of a civil investigation into his business enterprise.

A lawyer for Trump argued in a court submitting Tuesday that the previous president complied with James’ subpoena when his authorized staff advised her that he isn’t going to have any of the documents she asked for.

“After conducting a diligent lookup and assessment, Respondent’s counsel established that Respondent was not in possession of any documents responsive to the Subpoena and that all possibly responsive documents have been in the possession, custody or command of the Trump Organization,” Trump’s attorney Alina Habba wrote.

James is investigating allegations that the Trump Business misstated the values of some of its serious estate assets to get greater monetary conditions when implementing for financial loans and insurance policy and for tax applications.

New York Supreme Courtroom Decide Arthur Engoron in February denied requests by Trump, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. to throw out subpoenas issued to them by James.

Engoron also ordered Trump to “comply in entire” with a subpoena for him to produce more files and information and facts to the investigators.

James on April 7 urged the choose to hold Trump in contempt of courtroom, accusing the former president of violating the court’s buy. She also asked Engoron to slap Trump with a great of $10,000 each day until he turns about the files.

“The judge’s buy was crystal obvious: Donald J. Trump must comply with our subpoena and convert in excess of applicable paperwork to my office environment,” James explained in a statement at the time.

“Rather of obeying a court docket order, Mr. Trump is striving to evade it. We are trying to get the court’s fast intervention because no a single is over the regulation,” James stated.

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

In the court docket submitting Tuesday evening, Trump’s law firm speculated that the attorney general’s workplace submitted the contempt motion “seemingly in an energy to transform this make a difference into a public spectacle.”

Habba wrote that Trump adopted the subpoena’s directions. She argued that Trump was not needed to present any files to the investigators that were being in the Trump Organization’s possession, if people information had already been manufactured to James’ business office.

“This provision is essential since the Trump Organization has independently manufactured a wide amount of documents to the [attorney general’s office] all through the class of the matter investigation,” Habba wrote.

She also accused the attorney general’s office environment of refusing “to interact in superior-faith discussions to address the troubles at hand.”

Provided that “recalcitrant actions, it is honest to query [the attorney general’s] motive in bringing the fast software, which appears to be little much more than a contrived publicity stunt,” Habba wrote.