- Donald Trump has until Friday to explain why he can't find 12 of his former executive assistants.
- The AG in New York hopes to hear how they handled documents as part of a 3-year probe into Trump's business.
- It's 'striking' that Trump's lawyers couldn't say where they are, the AG said in a court filing.
Donald Trump has until Friday to explain why he hasn't been able to locate 12 former executive assistants that the Attorney General in New York is hoping to hear from as she winds down her 3-year probe of the former president's business.
Failing to provide a judge with a good explanation could trigger a retroactive, $10,000-a-day contempt-of-court fine, costing the former president more than a quarter-million dollars in additional fines.
The court-ordered fine, for failing to fully comply with the AG's subpoena for his personal business documents, had been capped at $110,000 — and the contempt order lifted — but only conditionally.
There are three agreed-upon hoops that the Trump legal team must yet jump through by Friday to keep the costly fine from being reinstated — backdated to May 7 . One is the requirement that former executive assistant Molly Michael sign an affidavit explaining how she kept Trump's documents.
Another hoop: finding those 12 executive assistants, or explaining why they can't be found.
"Counsel for Respondent Donald J. Trump will provide a supplemental affidavit or affirmation as to their efforts to contact the former executive assistants of Mr. Trump by June 3," according to a stipulation agreed to by both sides this week.
Andrew S. Amer, Special Counsel to AG Letitia James, wondered in another recent filing why they wouldn't have left forwarding addresses.
"Presumably, the Trump Organization has a last known address and contact number for each of these individuals," Amer wrote.
It's "insufficient" for Trump to merely claim that "attempts ... to contact them to obtain an affidavit were unsuccessful" without further explanation, Amer wrote. "
What specific steps were taken and when to reach each former executive assistant? Did any of them respond, and if so, what did they say?" he said he wants to know.
Trump's most longstanding executive assistant, Rhona Graff, was to be deposed by James' office on Tuesday as the final condition of the contempt order being lifted permanently and the fine capped at the current $110,000.
A lawyer handling the Trump document subpoena matter, Alina Habba, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.