New York judge to drop contempt order against Trump

A New York judge on Wednesday released former President Donald Trump from a judicial order holding him in contempt of court — on the condition that he pay a $110,000 fine.

Trump, whose business dealings are under a civil investigation by the New York state Attorney General’s Office, failed to comply with a December subpoena for financial documents. On April 25, Justice Arthur Engoron of the New York Supreme Court for New York County held Trump in contempt of court and ordered him to pay $10,000 a day until he complied with the subpoena.

The penalty amounted to a $110,000 penalty by May 6, when Trump’s lawyers submitted 66 pages of court documents detailing efforts to locate the subpoenaed records.

Engoron lifted the contempt order on Wednesday, but with a few conditions. Trump must pay the $110,000 fine, and should he not meet the conditions by May 20, Engoron will reinstate the contempt order and retroactively apply the $10,000-a-day fine.

New York Attorney General Letitia James launched the probe into the Trump Organization more than three years ago, alleging Trump misstated values of assets in his financial statements. James filed a contempt motion earlier in April after Trump failed to produce documents by the March 31 deadline.

To meet the conditions of Engoron’s lifting of the contempt order, Trump must also by May 20 provide additional affidavits detailing efforts to search for records and explaining his and his company’s document retention policies, and a company he hired to help search for documents must complete its work.