NY attorney general files to hold Trump in contempt for refusing to produce documents

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New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office filed a motion for the court to hold former President Donald Trump in contempt for failure to comply with an order to comply with a subpoena.

The motion, filed Thursday in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, states that "Mr. Trump did not comply at all" with the subpoena's request for documents and information requested by James's office by the March 31 deadline. 

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"The judge’s order was crystal clear: Donald J. Trump must comply with our subpoena and turn over relevant documents to my office," James said in a statement. "Instead of obeying a court order, Mr. Trump is trying to evade it. We are seeking the court’s immediate intervention because no one is above the law."

Former President Donald Trump speaks at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., Wednesday, July 7, 2021.  (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

The requested documents include statements of financial condition and related materials, records relating to the valuation of assets listed in those statements, documents related to insurance policies, and tax-related documents including any records of the IRS auditing him.

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James, a Democrat, has spent more than two years looking at whether the Trump Organization misled banks or tax officials about the value of assets – inflating them to gain favorable loan terms or minimizing them to reap tax savings.

New York Attorney General Letitia James addresses a news conference at her office, in New York, Friday, May 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

The attorney general’s office states that rather than turn over the requested materials, Trump filed objections to the subpoena’s requests, while also claiming that the documents either do not exist or are possessed by the Trump Organization, which needs time to produce them.

"This Court’s order was not an opening bid for a negotiation or an invitation for a new round of challenges to the subpoena," James’s office said in a court filing. "It was, rather, a court order entered after full briefing and argument during which Mr. Trump could have, but did not, raise any of the purported objections or assertions he has now raised."

On March 22, Trump attorney Amy Carlin sent a letter to the court stating, among other things, that the Trump Organization intended to comply with James's request and turn over documents by April 15. On March 28, Judge Arthur Engoron issued an order for them to do so by that date, with both sides to appear for a conference on April 25.

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Fox News reached out to Carlin for comment on the attorney general's motion, but she did not immediately respond.

The attorney general's office is now asking the court to impose fines of $10,000 for every day that goes by until Trump turns over all of the requested documents, in addition to the costs and fees James's office spent on filing the motion.

Fox News' Danielle Wallace and Marta Dhanis contributed to this report.