Judge: Trump must pay $110K, meet conditions to end contempt
NEW YORK – A New York judge has stopped the clock on Donald Trump’s $10,000-a-day fine for failing to turn over documents in a state civil investigation and said Wednesday he’ll lift the former president’s contempt finding altogether if he meets certain conditions, including paying $110,000 in fines he’s racked up so far.
Judge Arthur Engoron said he will conditionally lift Trump’s contempt finding if, by May 20, Trump submits additional affidavits detailing efforts to search for the subpoenaed records and explaining his and his company’s document retention policies; a company he hired to aid the search completes its work; and he pays the fines.
Engoron found Trump in contempt on April 25 and fined him $10,000 per day for not complying with a subpoena for documents in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation into his business practices, which she said has uncovered evidence that Trump may have misstated the value of assets like skyscrapers and golf courses on financial statements for over a decade.
The total Engoron ordered Trump to pay is the amount of fines accrued through last Friday, when Trump’s lawyers submitted 66 pages of court documents detailing the efforts by him and his lawyers to locate the subpoenaed records.
Engoron could reinstate the fine if the conditions he set forth on Wednesday are not met.
Also Wednesday, a state appellate court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in Trump’s appeal in another subpoena matter: Engoron’s Feb. 17 ruling requiring him to answer questions under oath in James’ investigation.
A message seeking comment was left with Trump’s lawyer.
James, a Democrat, asked Engoron to hold Trump in contempt of court after he failed to produce any documents to satisfy a March 31 deadline to meet the terms of the subpoena.
James’ office sought numerous documents, including paperwork and communications pertaining to Trump’s financial statements, financing and debt for a Chicago hotel project and development plans for his Seven Springs Estate north of New York City, and even communications with Forbes magazine, where he sought to burnish his image as a wealthy businessman.
Trump attorney Alina Habba said in the May 6 filing that the responses to the subpoena were complete and correct and that no relevant documents or information were withheld.
Former head of Louisiana State Police cited for contempt
BATON ROUGE, La. — Lawmakers investigating the deadly arrest of Black motorist Ronald Greene voted unanimously Wednesday to hold the former head of the Louisiana State Police in contempt for defying a subpoena and refusing to turn over the handwritten journals he kept while leading the state’s premier law enforcement agency.
The decision to charge former Col. Kevin Reeves with contempt and fine him $5,000 marks an escalation in the bipartisan committee’s probe of the alleged cover-up in Greene’s 2019 death. If affirmed by the full state House, it will allow lawmakers to ask a court to compel Reeves to turn over three handwritten journals.
The vote comes a day after the three-year anniversary of the fatal arrest on a rural roadside outside Monroe, where troopers beat, stunned and dragged Greene following a high-speed chase.
Reeves’ attorney, Lewis Unglesby, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Unglesby has contended Reeves cooperated with the committee, but claims that all but 11 pages of the former police superintendent’s journals don’t pertain to Greene’s death and therefore don’t have to be turned over. Members of the committee investigating Greene’s death said Wednesday the documents are public records.
From wire reports