Former President Donald Trump appealed the ruling of a New York judge who declared him in contempt and fined him $10,000 a day for failing to properly respond to a summons issued by the state Attorney General, which is investigating his transactions. of business. Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, filed the appeal with the appeals court, making good on her promise to appeal Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling, issued Monday. P questioned the legal basis for contempt, arguing that the former president duly responded to the summons and that the Justice Department had not shown that his conduct “had the intention of defeating, weakening, preventing or harming” investigation or conduct “good faith discussions” before requesting the fine.
“All documents in response to the order were turned over to the (New York) District Attorney months ago,” Habba added in a statement after learning of Engoron’s ruling.
Engoron said the contempt ruling was appropriate because Trump and his attorneys failed to show that they had properly sought the requested documents . The Republican has called the investigation a “witch hunt” for political reasons. New York City Attorney Letitia James, a Democrat, asked the court to hold Trump in contempt because he failed to file the documents by the March 31 deadline set by the order.