New York AG asks judge to hold Trump in contempt over failure to turn over documents

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday asked a state judge to fine former President Donald Trump $10,000 a day until he turns over documents she subpoenaed as part of her civil investigation into the Trump Organization.

James wrote in a court filing that Trump agreed to comply "in full" with her subpoena by March 31, but failed to turn over all relevant materials. Her office is looking into whether the Trump Organization inflated the value of its real estate properties in order to get tax benefits and loans.

In a statement, James said a judge made it "crystal clear" to Trump that he needed to give her office the documents, but "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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Last week, James said the probe has uncovered "significant evidence" suggesting that over the course of a decade, the Trump Organization's financial statements "relied on misleading asset valuations and other misrepresentations to secure economic benefits," The Guardian reports.

New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur F. Engoron is overseeing the documents dispute, and will decide whether to hold the former president in contempt and if he should be fined. In a statement Thursday night, Trump called the attorney general's investigation "a witch hunt" and "an attempt to silence" him.