Former President Trump on Wednesday began his appeal of a New York state judge’s ruling holding him in contempt and fining him $10,000 for every day that he doesn’t comply with a state attorney general subpoena.
Trump’s attorney filed a notice of appeal with the New York Supreme Court just two days after Judge Arthur Engoron found the former president in contempt.
In a written order issued on Tuesday, Engoron said it was unacceptable that Trump had continued to challenge the subpoena’s request for documents weeks after the judge had rejected Trump’s legal challenge against it.
“OAG has satisfied its burden of demonstrating that Mr. Trump willfully disobeyed a lawful court order of which he had knowledge prejudicing OAG,” Engoron wrote, using an acronym for the Office of Attorney General.
“The purpose of civil contempt is not to punish, but, rather, to coerce and/or to compensate. OAG seeks to fine Mr. Trump $10,000 per day until he satisfies his obligations, which this Court, which has wide discretion in such matters, finds to be reasonable.”
The judge ruled in February that Trump must provide New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) with documents and testimony as part of her civil investigation into alleged fraud at his company.
Trump is appealing the order to sit for a deposition with investigators, but had not challenged the order to turn over documents.
Trump’s attorney Alina Habba said earlier this week that they disagreed with the judge’s contempt ruling and vowed an appeal.
“This does not even come close to meeting the standard on a motion for contempt and, thus, we intend to appeal,” Habba said.
“The judge’s order was clear: Donald J. Trump is in contempt of court and must pay $10,000 a day until he complies with our subpoenas,” James said in a statement. “We’ve seen this playbook before, and it has never stopped our investigation of Mr. Trump and his organization. This time is no different.”
–Updated at 1:33 p.m.