A New York judge said on Wednesday that he was conditionally purging a contempt order against former President Donald Trump as long as he turns over more information on documents that are being sought by the state attorney general's office by the end of next week.
Justice Arthur Engoron said he was pausing the $10,000 a-day contempt fine he hit Trump with last month, but he still has to pay $110,000 in fines accrued to date.
The judge found Trump in civil contempt of court and ordered him to pay the daily fine until he turns over documents subpoenaed by the state attorney general s office or showing proof that he doesn't have the documents.
Alina Habba submitted court filings on Friday detailing the efforts on Trump's behalf to find the documents and other information that the attorney general's office had been looking at for its investigation into the Trump Organization'sTrump Organization's business practices.
Habba said they had conducted a thorough, thorough search for all documents and information requested by the Subpoena, including trying to find Trump's old cell phones.
Her filing said Trump doesn't know where the phones are, and he currently only has two phones in his personal possession: i an iPhone and ii a new phone he was recently given by TruthSocial, which is used exclusively for posting on that site. Habba said she personally looked at Trump's properties in Florida and New Jersey last week in an attempt to find the documents. I diligently searched each and every room of the respondent's private residence located at Mar-a-Lago, including all desks, drawers, nightstands, dressers, closets, etc. He said he was unable to locate any documents responsive to the subpoena that had not been produced by the Trump OrganizationTrump Organization to the OAG.
She said she conducted a similar search of Trump's office in Florida, and another Trump attorney searched his office and residence at Trump Tower in New York City. The filing said that there were also searches of various file cabinets.
The judge credited the attorneys' progress, despite the fact that they had earlier rebuffed an earlier plea from Trump's lawyers to halt the fine because their answers weren't detailed enough.
He said he was halting the fines and would purge the contempt ruling if Trump's team accomplished three goals by May 20 : provide a description of the Trump Organization'sTrump Organization's documentation retention and destruction policies, complete a review of five of 17 boxes in an off-site storage facility and pay $110,000 in fines Trump had accrued to date.
Failure to meet any of the above conditions will result in a contempt order being restored and the fine reinstated retroactively to Saturday May 7, the judge's decision said.