By Aaron Miller-
Former president, Donald Trump, faces serious legal consequences, after New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a motion to hold former President Donald Trump in contempt for not complying with a court order to turn over documents in her ongoing civil probe.
Her office has called for him to pay $10,000 per day until he turns over the documents, and legal experts expect some drastic action from the court. The former president who is displaying a desperate level of ignorance and foolishness could face both a fine or an imprisonment, or one of the other.
In a statement, Mr Trump slammed Ms James for an “absolute violation” of his civil rights and called her an “operative for the Democrat Party in a political prosecution” of him.
In February, a judge ruled that Mr Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr, 44, and daughter Ivanka Trump, 40, must answer questions under oath in the New York investigation into their business practices.
They appealed the order to appear, but did not object to a separate part of the ruling that the former president comply with a subpoena “seeking documents and information”, to be produced by 31 March. That date has now lapsed by over a week.
In court documents filed on Thursday, the New York attorney general said Mr Trump has not produced the requested documents and has raised objections “based on grounds such as overbreadth, burden, and lack of particularity”.
“The judge’s order was crystal clear: Donald J. Trump must comply with our subpoena and turn over relevant documents to my office,” said Attorney General James. “Instead of obeying a court order, Mr. Trump is trying to evade it. We are seeking the court’s immediate intervention because no one is above the law.”
In February 2022, the Honorable Arthur Engoron rejected Mr. Trump’s challenge to OAG’s subpoena and ruled that he was required to “comply in full” by producing a range of documents to OAG as part of its investigation into his and the Trump Organization’s financial dealings. Mr. Trump was initially ordered to produce those documents by March 3, 2022, but OAG agreed to accommodate his request for additional time and extended the date to March 31, 2022.
James said, Mr. Trump agreed to this timeline and never sought to challenge this aspect of the order on appeal. However, on March 31, 2022, Mr. Trump raised a new round of objections to the document requests in the subpoena and stated that he would not produce any documents responsive to OAG’s subpoena, in direct violation of the judge’s order.
The Attorney General said that “under settled law, a party is not permitted to delay proceedings at this advanced juncture in the legal process to challenge an investigative subpoena, so Mr. Trump does not have the ability to raise these baseless objections at this time.”
Meanwhile, investigators in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s criminal probe into Mr Trump’s business dealings are reviewing “evidence not previously explored”.
In a new interview with the Washington Post, Mr Trump has insisted he does not regret urging his supporters to come to Washington, DC on 6 January 2021 – and has even said that he himself would have marched to the Capitol had the Secret Service not restrained him.
“Secret Service said I couldn’t go,” the paper quotes him saying. “I would have gone there in a minutes.
The news comes as congressman, Ronnie Jackson is under investigation by the Ethics .
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), and top Republican, Rep. Jackie Walorski (Ind.), said in a statement that the panel had extended its review of Jackson after receiving a referral from the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), an independent watchdog, in late December.
A spokesperson for Jackson said that the review concerns his campaign finance activities and that the former White House physician-turned-lawmaker has cooperated with the investigation.
Jackson’s office also accused the OCE, which investigates allegations of misconduct by members of both parties, of being a “partisan” and “liberal” group.
“The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) is a partisan group known for pursuing frivolous witch-hunts. Despite this, Congressman Jackson cooperated fully with OCE by providing detailed explanations regarding questions they had about his campaign finance report,” the Jackson spokesperson said.
“As a strong voice for conservative values, Congressman Jackson is regularly the target of liberal groups like OCE. Nonetheless, he understands that the Ethics Committee had a duty to acknowledge it is looking into the OCE’s claims as defined by House Rules. Congressman Jackson has nothing to hide and will continue his cooperation,” the spokesperson said
Jackson ultimately withdrew from consideration of Trump’s nomination to serve as secretary of Veterans Affairs in 2018, after allegations of misconduct emerged, including accusations he drank on the job, sexually harassed a female subordinate and casually dispensed prescription drugs.
A Defense Department inspector general report released last year alleged Jackson had been condescending towards subordinates and took Ambien on long flights while he was on duty. Jackson has denied the allegations.
The OCE investigates allegations against House members and then makes referrals to the House Ethics Committee if it believes allegations merit further review..
New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a motion to hold former President Donald Trump in contempt for not complying with a court order to turn over documents in her ongoing civil probe. Her office wants him to pay $10,000 per day until he turns over the documents.
In a statement, Mr Trump slammed Ms James for an “absolute violation” of his civil rights and called her an “operative for the Democrat Party in a political prosecution” of him.
“The judge’s order was crystal clear: Donald J. Trump must comply with our subpoena and turn over relevant documents to my office,” said Attorney General James. “Instead of obeying a court order, Mr. Trump is trying to evade it. We are seeking the court’s immediate intervention because no one is above the law.”
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Newyork Attorney: Letitia James Image: BrendeMcDermid
In February 2022, the Honorable Arthur Engoron rejected Mr. Trump’s challenge to OAG’s subpoena and ruled that he was required to “comply in full” by producing a range of documents to OAG as part of its investigation into his and the Trump Organization’s financial dealings. Mr. Trump was initially ordered to produce those documents by March 3, 2022, but OAG agreed to accommodate his request for additional time and extended the date to March 31, 2022.
James said, Mr. Trump agreed to this timeline and never sought to challenge this aspect of the order on appeal. However, on March 31, 2022, Mr. Trump raised a new round of objections to the document requests in the subpoena and stated that he would not produce any documents responsive to OAG’s subpoena, in direct violation of the judge’s order.
Settled Law
The Attorney General said that “under settled law, a party is not permitted to delay proceedings at this advanced juncture in the legal process to challenge an investigative subpoena, so Mr. Trump does not have the ability to raise these baseless objections at this time.”
Meanwhile, investigators in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s criminal probe into Mr Trump’s business dealings are reviewing “evidence not previously explored”.
In a new interview with the Washington Post, Mr Trump has insisted he does not regret urging his supporters to come to Washington, DC on 6 January 2021 – and has even said that he himself would have marched to the Capitol had the Secret Service not restrained him.
“Secret Service said I couldn’t go,” the paper quotes him saying. “I would have gone there in a minutes.