Donald Trump and his three eldest children are being accused of making life hell for the New York attorney general’s office. In a letter submitted in court last week, the office claimed that they’re refusing to comply with discovery “in a timely and transparent fashion” as part of an ongoing fraud lawsuit against them and the Trump Organization. The letter claims that the Trumps only recently began fulfilling the office’s discovery demands and have submitted no timeline for compliance. It also cited “an unexplained drop-off in emails for Ivanka Trump” as a primary concern. The emails turned over from Ivanka dropped from an average of 1,200 emails per month over the first nine months of 2014 to 37 emails per month in 2016, the attorney general’s office wrote. “Not only have defendants failed to offer any substantive response to this inquiry, but there have been no documents produced by Ms. Trump,” the AG’s office told Judge Arthur Engoron on Friday. Christopher Kise, counsel for the Trump defendants, provided a statement to The Daily Beast: “There is simply no real controversy here. The Trump Defendants provided a lengthy response to the Court detailing their extensive discovery efforts over the past months and providing the specifics as to the involvement of and the cooperation with the New York Attorney General in that process. The Trump Defendants will continue to comply with their discovery obligations and the Orders of the Court.” In response to the letter, Engoron set a May 12 deadline for them to turn over the outstanding documents.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to more accurately reflect the attorney general’s complaint.
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