Judge orders Trump Org to turn over docs as New York AG accuses company of ‘hiding behind excuses’

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is investigating the Trump Organization for allegedly manipulating the value of its assets, says the former president's company has been "hiding behind procedural delays and excuses" and failing to comply with her office's subpoenas for more than a year.

Now, in response to complaints from James' office, a New York state judge has ruled that if the Trump Organization doesn't comply with the subpoenas by next week, the company will have to hire an outside expert to search its documents.

"The Trump Organization has until Sept. 30 to file a report on its efforts to preserve, collect and produce all documents responsive to subpoenas issued by James as part of a civil probe into whether the company manipulated the value of its assets for loans and tax breaks, state court Justice Arthur Engoron said in a Sept. 2 order unsealed on Friday," according to a report from Bloomberg.

In a statement responding to the judge's order, James' office said: "For more than a year now, the Trump Organization has failed to adequately respond to our subpoenas, hiding behind procedural delays and excuses. Once again, the court has ordered that the Trump Organization must turn over the information and documents we are seeking, otherwise face an independent third-party that will ensure that takes place. Our work will continue undeterred because no one is above the law."

The civil case is separate from a criminal investigation into alleged tax-fraud by the Trump Organization that's being conducted by James in conjunction with the Manhattan district attorney.

"The New York attorney general opened the investigation in March 2019 after the president's former attorney, Michael Cohen, testified to Congress that President Trump had altered the value of his assets in financial statements in order to get loans, better insurance rates and tax breaks," the Hill reports. "In the civil case, court records show that James' office is investigating the valuation of several Trump properties including the Seven Springs resort in Westchester County, N.Y.; an office building on Wall Street in New York City; the Trump International Hotel in Chicago; and the Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles."