Judge rejects Trump's affidavit denying he has documents subpoenaed by New York attorney general
A New York judge on Friday denied former President Trump's sworn affidavit claiming that he doesn't possess any documents subpoenaed by the state attorney general for its investigation into the Trump Organization's finances.
Trump filed the signed, one-page affidavit with the court on Friday in an attempt to end the civil contempt and $10,000 daily fine that New York state Judge Arthur Engoron imposed on him earlier this week, CNN reported.
After a virtual conference on Friday, Engoron denied Trump's request to purge the contempt.
"Mr. Trump's personal affidavit is completely devoid of any useful detail," the judge wrote. "Notably, it fails to state where he kept his files, how his files were stored in the regular course of business, who had access to such files, what, if any, the retention policy was for such files, and, importantly, where he believes such files are currently located."
Engoron previously said that Trump could end the contempt if he either complied with the New York attorney general's subpoena or he or his lawyers explained their efforts to search for the relevant documents, according to CNN.
Trump's sworn statement states: "To the best of my knowledge, (i) I do not have any of the documents requested in the subpoena dated December 1, 2021 in my personal possession."
The statement also says the Trump Organization would be in possession of any such documents related to the subpoena and that he had authorized the firm to comply, the media outlet reported.
Lawyers with the attorney general's office objected to the statement, writing to the judge in a letter, "Mr. Trump's two-paragraph affidavit adds no useful information to the mix. Mr. Trump merely states off the top of his head, with no hint that he conducted any type of search, that he has no documents in response to the December 2021 subpoena in his 'personal possession.'"
The attorneys also noted that affidavits from Trump's lawyers provided some new information regarding their search, but "they are insufficient to purge the finding of contempt."
New York Attorney General Letitia James' office said that if no new records are recovered after the completed review, then it would suggest Trump didn't preserve records.
"It is simply not plausible that Mr. Trump authored only three documents dealing with the value of his assets and his wealth," the office's lawyers wrote.