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NY State Judge Orders Trump Org to Stop ‘Hiding Behind Excuses’: They Have ONE WEEK to Comply

Trump is having one of his worst days post-presidency. Reuters has already reported that President Biden has determined that it will not hold the Trump administration’s documents back based on Executive privilege (though to be fair, we have seen tweets indicating that the White House is walking the decision back slightly, but nothing definitive from Reuters).

Trump also learned that the House Select Committee has subpoenaed four of his closest confidants with respect to January 6th, including Mark Meadows, and now Trump faces a New York State judge who has ordered the Trump Organization to produce a report on why it hasn’t handed over its documents to the NY A.G.’s office:

“The Trump Organization has until Sept. 30 to file a report on its efforts to preserve, collect and produce all documents responsive to subpoenas issued by James as part of a civil probe into whether the company manipulated the value of its assets for loans and tax breaks, state court Justice Arthur Engoron said in a Sept. 2 order unsealed on Friday,”

Per a statement from New York Attorney General Letitia James:

“For more than a year now, the Trump Organization has failed to adequately respond to our subpoenas, hiding behind procedural delays and excuses. Once again, the court has ordered that the Trump Organization must turn over the information and documents we are seeking, otherwise face an independent third-party that will ensure that takes place. Our work will continue undeterred because no one is above the law.”

Obviously, the third party would be given full access to all documents and determine which ones are responsive to the subpoena. One might expect a third party to see the issue “more broadly” than would the Trump Organization. Thus, the Trump Org. will likely do all it can to avoid third-party involvement.

One caution, though, this order applies to the N.Y. State A.G. case, which is a civil matter. However, there is no rule against a civil case becoming a criminal case if evidence of a crime is found within the documents.

Something is keeping the Trump Org. from handing the records over. Perhaps they’d bring even more trouble upon themselves.

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[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak