The former president’s contempt finding on April 25th came after he challenged a December summons requesting records of his personal finances and the financing of many properties. Trump claimed he had no material to respond to the summons, prompting Judge and New York Attorney General Letitia James to provide detailed explanations of how they conducted their investigation.
“While we are pleased that the court is lifting the contempt finding, we argue that it was completely unjustified and inappropriate from the outset,” Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said in a text message. “We will proceed with our appeal to ensure justice for our client.” Trump was fined $ 10,000 a day until May 6, when his lawyers first gave explanations for their efforts to search for summoned documents. In the weeks that followed, the judge and attorney general sought affidavits from two dozen Trump officials and attorneys in an effort to find out how Donald Trump’s company apparently kept almost no records of his personal finances for a decade. of. Nearly all attorneys have described a company that has few specific policies regarding the destruction and preservation of documents related to Trump’s personal finances, leaving such decisions to individuals or, in some cases, to their department heads. These statements largely reflect what Trump said in his affidavit, that “it is my usual practice to delegate the responsibility of handling and maintaining documents to my executive assistants.” Assistant executives who submitted affidavits said they did not follow any specific policy. A longtime former aide, Rhona Graff, said in a May 31 testimony that she often left such decisions to other people. In affidavits filed June 17, the heads of several departments said that while they had internal document retention policies, they had no specific policy on documents related to Trump himself. Trump’s lawyer, Alina Hampa, wrote in a June 8 court letter that “a huge number” of documents showing Trump’s “handwritten notes” had been handed over by the Trump Organization. Habba’s letter was accompanied by eight exhibits that included many photographs of golf legend Gary Player, in which Trump had written “Great,” as well as several legal and design documents in which he had written “OK.” There was also a note from his daughter in a design document related to a Trump property in Doral, Florida. An exhibit filed yesterday in the NY AG Trump investigation shows Ivanka’s note to her father about a Trump Doral design document. “Dad-See names of accommodation / villas.-Ivanka” (shelters are named for famous golfers) pic.twitter.com/bW1CT7m62U – Graham Kates (@GrahamKates) June 9, 2022 In a June 21 testimony, a lawyer in James’s office said he supported the removal of the contempt finding, not because he was happy with the explanations he received, but “because it is not clear what else, if nothing else, [Trump] and his advice may be ordered to do so. “ The lawyer, Andrew Amer, said Trump would be questioned about the corporate records during an affidavit ordered by the court scheduled for mid-July. Trump and two of his children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, recently lost two lawsuits trying to block deposits. “We have every expectation [Trump] “He will be sworn in next month and will inform the Court immediately if new information on the Defendant’s documents emerges from this testimony,” Amer wrote, adding that he was still concerned about “the apparent absence in the production of the documents that one would expect to see from Mr. Trump on his Statements of Financial Status “. James’s office has been conducting a wide-ranging political fraud investigation into Trump and his company since 2019, and said his investigation has gathered evidence that “shows that Donald J. Trump and the Trump organization used fraudulent and misleading financial statements to obtain economic benefit .” Amer and his colleagues said at several recent hearings that the investigation was coming to an end.

Graham Cates

Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy, and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at [email protected] or at [email protected]

title: “Judge Acquits Trump Of Contempt For New York Attorney General Fraud Investigation " ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-06” author: “Rafael Smith”

The former president’s contempt finding on April 25th came after he challenged a December summons requesting records of his personal finances and the financing of many properties. Trump claimed he had no material to respond to the summons, prompting Judge and New York Attorney General Letitia James to provide detailed explanations of how they conducted their investigation.
“While we are pleased that the court is lifting the contempt finding, we argue that it was completely unjustified and inappropriate from the outset,” Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said in a text message. “We will proceed with our appeal to ensure justice for our client.” Trump was fined $ 10,000 a day until May 6, when his lawyers first gave explanations for their efforts to search for summoned documents. In the weeks that followed, the judge and attorney general sought affidavits from two dozen Trump officials and attorneys in an effort to find out how Donald Trump’s company apparently kept almost no records of his personal finances for a decade. of. Nearly all attorneys have described a company that has few specific policies regarding the destruction and preservation of documents related to Trump’s personal finances, leaving such decisions to individuals or, in some cases, to their department heads. These statements largely reflect what Trump said in his affidavit, that “it is my usual practice to delegate the responsibility of handling and maintaining documents to my executive assistants.” Assistant executives who submitted affidavits said they did not follow any specific policy. A longtime former aide, Rhona Graff, said in a May 31 testimony that she often left such decisions to other people. In affidavits filed June 17, the heads of several departments said that while they had internal document retention policies, they had no specific policy on documents related to Trump himself. Hampa noted in a June 8 letter to the court that “a huge number” of documents showing Trump’s “handwritten notes” had been handed over by the Trump Organization. Habba’s letter was accompanied by eight exhibits that included many photographs of golf legend Gary Player, in which Trump had written “Great,” as well as several legal and design documents in which he had written “OK.” There was also a note from his daughter in a design document related to a Trump property in Doral, Florida. An exhibit filed yesterday in the NY AG Trump investigation shows Ivanka’s note to her father about a Trump Doral design document. “Dad-See names of accommodation / villas.-Ivanka” (shelters are named for famous golfers) pic.twitter.com/bW1CT7m62U – Graham Kates (@GrahamKates) June 9, 2022 In a June 21 testimony, a lawyer in James’s office said he supported the removal of the contempt finding, not because he was happy with the explanations he received, but “because it is not clear what else, if nothing else, [Trump] and his advice may be ordered to do so. “ The lawyer, Andrew Amer, said Trump would be questioned about the corporate records during an affidavit ordered by the court scheduled for mid-July. Trump and two of his children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, recently lost two lawsuits trying to block deposits. “We have every expectation [Trump] “He will be sworn in next month and will inform the Court immediately if new information on the Defendant’s documents emerges from this testimony,” Amer wrote, adding that he was still concerned about “the apparent absence in the production of the documents that one would expect to see from Mr. Trump on his Statements of Financial Status “. James’s office has been conducting a wide-ranging political fraud investigation into Trump and his company since 2019, and said his investigation has gathered evidence that “shows that Donald J. Trump and the Trump organization used fraudulent and misleading financial statements to obtain economic benefit .” Amer and his colleagues said at several recent hearings that the investigation was coming to an end.

Graham Cates

Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy, and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at [email protected] or at [email protected]