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Former President Donald Trump claims that New York Attorney General Letitia James’ bid to hold him in contempt is “little more than a contrived publicity stunt” — and that he has no documents to turn over in her probe of his business dealings, new court papers show.

Earlier this month, James asked a judge to hold the ex-president in contempt for allegedly refusing to comply with a court order to turn over documents in her investigation of the Trump Organization.

But Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba fired back in a filing late Tuesday, claiming that her client “was not in possession of any documents responsive to the subpoena.”

“All potentially responsive documents were in possession, custody or control of the Trump Organization,” Habba added.

The attorney said that James’ subpoena specifically instructed that Trump didn’t need to hand over documents that his company had already submitted to the AG’s office.

But instead of attempting to resolve any outstanding issues directly between the lawyers, the AG’s office issued a press release about its contempt motion, Habba noted.

James’ office also rebuffed attempts by Habba “to engage in good-faith discussions to address the issues at hand – going so far as to refuse respondent’s counsel’s request for a simple phone call,” the filing states.


  New York State Attorney General Letitia James launched her probe into the Trump Organization in 2019. Brendan McDermid/REUTERS New York State Attorney General Letitia James launched her probe into the Trump Organization in 2019. Brendan McDermid/REUTERS

Habba said the contempt motion, “appears to be little more than a contrived publicity stunt.”

James launched an investigation into the Trump Organization in 2019 following Congressional testimony from Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen that the then-president exaggerated company assets to get an edge in loan applications, on taxes and for insurance purposes.

Then in 2020, the AG filed suit against the company and Eric Trump alleging they were stonewalling the probe. James then recently added Trump and kids Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. to the suit and is seeking testimony from them.

The family trio is appealing the subpoenas for their testimony.

The AG’s office declined to comment.

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