Trump Organization produced just 3 documents from Donald Trump in response to New York AG probe, court filings show
- The New York Attorney General first subpoenaed the Trump Organization in December 2019.
- The company produced just three documents from Donald Trump out of more than 5 million it handed over.
The Trump Organization gave the New York Attorney General's Office just three documents from former President Donald Trump in response to a subpoena issued more than two years ago, according to a new court filing.
New York Attorney General Letitia James first subpoenaed the Trump Organization in December 2019 as part of an investigation into whether the company misrepresented property values to pay little in taxes while receiving favorable loan and insurance rates.
Only three of more than 5 million documents the company handed over in the two years since were actually produced by Trump, according to James' office. Trump led the company for decades before his presidential inauguration in January 2017.
James's office referenced the documents in a legal memorandum asking a judge to force the former president, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump to sit for depositions about the company's finances. Attorneys for the Trump family have asked the judge to quash the subpoenas for depositions, which were issued in December 2021.
Two of the three letters from Trump were entered as exhibits on Wednesday morning to support the attorney general's motion, an Insider review of court documents found.
One is a letter to Deutsche Bank's CEO dated November 2011, which included a financial statement and in which Trump apparently sought a loan for the Trump National Doral resort in Miami.
"Hope you will be impressed!" Trump wrote in the letter.
The other is a letter dated November 2015 asking Deutsche Bank for copies of financial documents for an audit.
The letters were given to James' office on July 22, 2021, several weeks after the Manhattan District Attorney's Office indicted the Trump Organization and CFO Allen Weisselberg, alleging they evaded taxes. The Trump Organization hasn't produced any documents from Trump since then, James' office said in court filings.
The district attorney's and James' investigations have been running in tandem. The company and Weisselberg had denied the allegations in the indictment.
Attorneys for the Trump Organization have argued in court filings that Trump had little personal involvement in preparing financial documents. But Assistant Attorney General Colleen Faherty wrote in a letter dated July 2021 that the company was deliberately withholding documents that it knew were relevant.
Trump rarely uses computers or email, but Faherty wrote that "file cabinets at the Trump Organization holding Mr. Trump's files" included "hard copy documents" and "Post-It Notes" that James' office was seeking.
James' office argues in the new court filings that documents and testimony it obtained show there's ample evidence the Trump Organization lied about its property values.
Earlier in January, Trump filed a federal lawsuit seeking to halt James' investigation. Representatives for the Trump Organization have denied any wrongdoing and said the investigation is politically motivated.