NY AG’s responds to Donald Trump’s self-aggrandizing Feb 15th Statement vs his Feb 14th “answers” to the AG’s verified complaint UPDATED Letter/Motion 3PM hearing. Update # 2 TRUMP’S MOTION DENIED
Should we tell Trump; it’s abundantly obvious that Mazars not only dumped him but his former (long time) accounting firm appears to be working with numerous District Attorney Offices? Or let it ride?
The update to this article can be found at the bottom…the second update which is the Court’s Ruling BIG LOSS for Trump,
And Good morning to you…
Today’s daily saltwater therapy - watching the ocean reclaim its water from high tide and cuts through the sand making a 2+ gully -the actual birth of a gnarly rip-current. To be clear my work load has been heavier this week than most of the past weeks. I swear when I see it’s almost President’s Day, that’s when I know the legislative session is in the home stretch. Praise Sweet Baby Jesus. This also means I’m no longer required to get up by 4AM while facing a nearly 6- hour long round trip commute. However I set this article to publish while I’m headed back down to the State Capitol. Time management skills are the only way I can keep my head above the water.
Full disclosure this article has 5+ recent Court filings by the New York Attorney General and the Trump Defendants. But Trump’s February 15, 2022 “statement” reads like an unhinged screed, who might have early onset dementia because Trump is that “one trick swamp donkey” —Trump literally regurgitated his “one hit attack wonders” and how everyone is out to get him. That Trump is the aggrieved party. That Trump is the perennial victim. He sounds like a whiney word that sounds like witch… so for better or worse, strap in because there’s a lot of ground to cover…
Donald Trump is mad! Trump smash!! Trump mad!!!
In some respects Donald Trump’s insane statement. Which can be found here nearly all of his statements post presidency read like it’s a tweet. Candidly Trump’s statements are nuttier than squirrel poop. And truly read like a screed of rage and regret. As you may know, Trump released a statement in response to the February 14, 2022 filing of an Amended Certified Complaint along with an Exhibit # 1, which was the Mazars’ February 9, 2022 Letter to the New York Attorney General’s Office and a Declaration from the AG’s Office. All of the aforementioned documents are contained herein;
New York AG, Exhibit Letter from Mazars
Memorandum of Law, filed by the NY-OAG and I would urge you to read that filing too.
Declaration of (NY-OAG) Kevin Wallace, take note of paragraphs 5 thru 8 because that’s where we learned for the first time;
New York County District Attorney empaneled a Grand Jury (in 2018 and it’s presumably still investigating)
the New York Attorney General’s Office has embedded two attorneys from the NY-OGA.
That to date no such criminal referral has been made to the NY-OAG, as required by New York Law, which would give the OAG’s Office jurisdiction.
Donald Trump, Trump Jr and Ivanka’s answers
Just before 11PM on February 14, 2022 the Defendants filed their “answers” to the NY-OAG January 18, 2022 Amended Verified Complaint. You can read the in-depth analysis of the Jan 2022 filing, here. And I would strongly suggest that you read the previously published article. It does seem rather astonishing that it took the Trump Defendants nearly 30 days to respond to the NY-OAG’s filing. And I can not emphasize the importance of the February 9, 2022 Mazars’ letter to the NY-OAG. Again the importance of what the catalyst was for Mazars letter, apparently it was Donald Trump’s January 18, 2022 Financial Statements in the above entitled case. All of the aforementioned documents were/are central to previous articles and are in fact public documents. You just need to know where and what to look for.
https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/iscroll/index.jsp
And luckily for my readers I’m not a document hoarding asshole. No I’ve consistently provided my followers/reads access to countless court filings. Largely because I believe my readers are smart enough to understand the documents. I know of my readers do not understand, then they can ask questions and I typically respond in a factual and timely manner.
🌶Spicy-Side-bar: I have found that individuals who hoard documents do this because they have conditioned their followers/readers to be solely reliant on them and their hilariously bad legal takes. —My point is I trust my readers. I know my readers are smart. My readers also understand that I don’t take their trust or faith in my research for granted. Given that in all these years, I’ve never once created a grift, I mean; GoFundMe, Pateron, or paywalled any of my tweets, research or analysis. Hence I’d be supremely skeptical of anyone who has consistently engaged in egregious and manipulative behavior of rarely if ever providing their followers with original documents. After all sharing is caring and I like to share.
Before we move on to the six+ documents recently docketed in the New York Attorney General’s years long investigation and civil proceedings, I would recommend that you read this recent article. To better help you frame the answers, I embedded the link to the January 18, 2022 Amended Verified complaint in the article below…
Again I would recommend that you read the January 18, 2022 NY AG petition because it is one helluva filing, that you should read in its entirety (see Scribd Link) now I’d like to draw your attention to paragraph 25 and 26. Keep in mind Trump filed this about 7+ hours after the NY-OAG filed a supplemental verified complaint and Memorandum of law. To say Trump’s answers are underwhelming, that’s me being generous because it is absolutely clear what strategy Donald Trump is using —I gave his legal strategy the Trump-D (Deny, Distract & Delay) -how ever in paragraph 25 of Trump’s Answers there’s a pretty important disclosure.
Admits only that Mazars compiled the Statements for a time and that Whitley Penn LLP compiled at least one Statement, and otherwise denies knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations contained in paragraph 26 of the Supplemental Petition, and respectfully refers the Court to the cited documents for the true, accurate, and contextual meaning thereof.
The remaining 49+ pages honestly reads like Trump’s attorneys simply used cut and paste. They offer very little in terms of substance. However pages 53 and 54 —Defendant Trump offers seven separate affirmative defenses. I don’t want to get ahead of my skis, since I’m not that knowledgeable of New York State Law but the affirmative defenses Trump is arguing —are absolutely weak, inaccurate and frankly offensive and many actually strains credulity.
Ivanka -your daddy can’t help you, you’re on your own
Ivanka Trump filed her answers (on Feb 14, 2022 at 11PM DC Local time), separately from Trump Org, but if you make the assumption that her answers are literally a cut and paste of the Answers filed by Donald Trump and Trump Org… I regret to inform you that your assumption is off the mark, by a country mile. Below are a few deviations in Ivanka’s answers versus Donald Trump & Trump Org answers.
Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr are represented by Alan Futerfas. And when you read both answers I want you to pay attention to any response that states: “neither admits nor denies“ and what subsection the answers fall under. One thing you’ll note, when it comes to financial information, conservation or preservation easements the Trumps refuse to proffer any answer.
The OAG is actively participating in a criminal prosecution where a grand jury is impaneled and which criminal investigation is targeting certain people and circumstances. Simultaneous to conducting this criminal investigation, the OAG has requested testimony that will be used in the criminal investigation under the guise of a supposedly administrative “Office” subpoena. Such circumvention is impermissible and violates the rights Respondent possesses under the New York Constitution and CPL 190.40.
No really Ivanka your daddy totally screwed you in his own answers and then you decided to screw your brother Trump Jr. You and your family are like a nest of vipers. The fact that your daddy explicitly stated that you, you alone did the negotiations and then you and Trump Jr feign ignorance. The “I didn’t know” is not nor has it ever been a proper affirmative defense.
Whispers, oh sweetie the NYS-OAG knows exactly what you and your brother and father are doing. The four of you are playing a litigation shell game and your really did not think this all the way through. I almost feel sorry for you but it was your choice to retain the same counsel as your brothers and Trump Org.
And lastly you’ll note that Ivanka Trump cites five affirmative defenses and they run the gauntlet. All while simultaneously using the same litigation playbook as her father: Trump-Triple-D to be fair in previous decades this strategy kind of worked. But the intentional misrepresentation to the Court that the NY-OAG has an ongoing criminal investigation. That’s not only patently false it’s a straight up. lie mixed with a generous helping of subterfuge and nonsensical conclusory arguments. Ivanka do better, oh wait your attorney’s name is Alan… conversely the pretext to their nonresponse to the multiple subpoenas lawfully issued by the NY-OAG the Court had rejected their previous arguments yet undeterred Trump & Co once again regurgitate arguments previously rejected. And last but so least is Trump Jr’s answers which are largely nearly identical to Ivanka Trump’s answers
Trump has a new-ish law firm… wait for it
I don’t recall when Habba Madaio & Associates LLP, made their initial notice of appearance. Nonetheless they now appear to be the lead counsel on the NYS v Trump (civil case Martin Act etc) but a cursory review of Habba-Madaio Instagram account —well that’s all I needed to know about the firm currently representing Donald Trump et al. I certainly hope this firm asked for at least a $2.79M retainer to be paid upfront. We all know how Trump likes to stiff people… but on a contextual level, by taking a moment to run a basic search on a firm helps contextualize how this firm operates. Color me unimpressed. How predictably pedestrian…
New York Attack General pulled a FAFO on Trump.
No really Attorney General James’ office pulled an exquisite roshambo hitting Trump where it counts. She literally used Trump’s own words against him and it’s the most savage filing I’ve read all week. First the “boring” stuff - the Supplemental Verified Complaint - the OAG noted that Trump et al failed to follow the NYS civil rules of procedure and failed to file their answers as “verified” —that’s not just an oversight, that’s litigation sloppiness by two different law firms representing the Trumps. In the February 16, 2022 Letter from New York Attorney General to the Court - it’s just brutal and to be frank the AG is on solid footing, whereas Trump & Co are sinking in quicksand.
…Answers are deficient, because Mr. Trump’s Answer is meritless..
…Trump’s response to the paragraph 29 of the Supplemental Verified Petition is illustrative: There, OAG asserts that Statements of Financial Condition “described Mr. Trump’s (or the Trustees of the Revocable Trust’s) valuation process in broad terms and in ways which are often inaccurate or misleading to a reader when compared with the supporting data and documentation that the Trump Organization submitted to Mazars…
Rightfully so the OAG explains to the Court how improper Trump et al’s answers are, and then on page 2 the NYS-OAG absolutely excoriates Trump’s response. The chef’s kiss can be found on page 2, the first paragraph—which reads in part..
…it is truly rare for a party to publicly disagree with statements submitted by his own attorneys in a signed pleading—let alone one day after the pleading was filed. That is what Mr. Trump has done here: Mr. Trump’s statement, Exhibit A, has made clear that a multitude of statements contained in his Answer, Dkt. 647, are false—highlighting the importance of Mr. Trump’s failure to verify his pleading.
..Trump’s public statement references “branding numbers,”
No really Trump thinks his “brand” is worth billions and that the value of his brand should somehow compensate for his questionable liquidity versus tangible assets and liabilities. In all my years in this industry I can not think of any client that even comes close to the audacity that is Donald Trump and his offspring. I’m telling you that it is truly only a matter of time before the majority of the Trump family goes all “Lord of the Flies meets Game of Thrones” because if you want to talk about actual conflict of interest —then we can do that too. Moving on to page 3 & 4 of the NYS-OAG February 16, 2022 letter to the Court —the OAG’s office lays down various case law and marries that to the New York State Rules of Civil procedure…it is an absolutely thrilling read…
…he simultaneously denies that he has information sufficient to form a belief…
…Mr. Trump’s public statement exposes the breadth of Mr. Trump’s knowledge concerning the Statements of Financial Condition, arguing that language he calls a “strongly worded and unambiguous Mazars Disclaimer Clause, or similar, is in each Financial Statement dating back many years.”… Trump also knows what OAG’s Supplemental Verified Petition is talking about when it talks about the Statements of Financial Condition. Mr. Trump’s factual assertions in Exhibit A simply cannot be squared with the purported lack of knowledge he repeatedly alleges in his unverified Answer.
…Trump’s Answer responds to this allegation by asserting a lack of knowledge: Mr. Trump “[d]enies knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the allegations contained in paragraph 13 of the Supplemental Petition, except admits that Mr. Trump has been an executive of the Trump Organization and has had an interest in the Trump Organization.”…
Trump has been an executive of the Trump Organization and has had an interest in the Trump Organization.” Dkt. 647 ¶ 13. Similarly, even though Donald Trump, Jr. elsewhere admits that he “has been involved in the management of the Trump Organization” and “that he is or has been a trustee of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust,” he simultaneously denies that he has information sufficient to form a belief as to the allegations in paragraph 13
…Respondents’ Answers is rife with similar denials of information which should also be treated as admissions…
Not only did Trump hugely contradict himself in his Feb 14th Answers to the OAG’s verified supplemental complaint but if you read Trump’s Feb 15th screed… one could assert that Trump repeatedly shot himself in the foot while punching his own nut sac.. but then he goes on to blame shifting to Ivanka and Trump Jr. Good Lord Donald J Trump will screw anyone to save his own butt. To be clear this is a litigation tactic - whereby the targets all start blaming each other. This is done to make prosecutors lose their True North and in my industry we call this the “outright chaos strategy”
I mean remember how I said that Ivanka’s daddy rolled her under the bus? Well on page 5 of the NYS-OAG Feb 16, 2022 letter to the Court, which reads in part:
…Trump denies knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to allegations that Ivanka Trump negotiated and secured financing for Trump Organization properties, including that she was the lead negotiator for the leasehold with the General Services Administration for the Old Post Office Property;…Mr. Trump’s Statements of Financial Condition rely on backup information prepared by the Trump Organization; and that he has stated that his Trump Tower triplex was approximately 30,000 square feet in size
The Court should treat these assertions, and the many others following this pattern, as admissions. Because these responses improperly seek to evade Respondents’ responsibilities to answer the Supplemental Verified Petition, the Court should also be skeptical of other statements made in the Answers—and question the seriousness of parties who refuse to comply with the basic rules regarding pleadings. See CPLR § 3018…
OAG’s Supplemental Verified Petition was verified. Under CPLR § 3020(a), “where a pleading is verified, each subsequent pleading shall also be verified, except the answer of an infant and except as to matter in the pleading concerning which the party would be privileged from testifying as a witness.” None of the Answers is verified; they are simply signed by counsel…
And footnote # 3 is exquisite in its simplicity but also strategically— here the OAG’s office is laying down a marker and they are also preemptively putting in guardrails that will force Trump et al to make the 5th Amendment protections in writing. Whispers this is why you should always read the footnotes.
And lastly the OAG included an exhibit, which is Donald Trump’s Feb 15, 2022 Public Statement aka screed on pure nuttiness, in their February 16, 2022 letter to the Court - I’m not at all overselling Trump’s insane word salad, like I said it’s nuttier than squirrel sh_t. I’m not kidding Trump’s statement is off the rails insane. He repeatedly contradicted his own February 14, 2022 Answers to the OAG…
Even for Trump. His Feb 15th statement is crazy and I think it’s also indicative that the “adult babysitters” are no longer surrounding him. Instead what we are all beating witness to the real Donald Trump. He can’t help himself. He can’t control himself - I make zero apologies for my annotations because sometimes spicy annotations are required…
And my closing argument is by way of my friends at @ElevenFilms it was accurate in February 2020 as it is in February 2022…
Full Disclosure I’m going to be offline until later this afternoon because I was assigned a task late yesterday afternoon and I’m on a tight deadline. If you have questions please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll respond as soon as my schedule permits. But for now my suggestion is to watch this space because the NYS Court is likely to rule on the various motions filed since January 2022 and that means we should wait and see if the Court agrees with the NYS-OAG arguments or will they side with Trump’s unavailing arguments. Meaning in the coming days that Court will decide if Trump et al will be ordered to comply with the subpoena for both documents and depositions…
Have a Great Day and try to laugh at least twice today.
Drops Mic - Filey out…
February 17, 2022 -update 1:35PM DC local time
Again the Court had previously scheduled a hearing for February 17, 2022 at 3PM and the Court will hear arguments concerning Trump’s Motion to Quash versus NYS-OAG verified supplemental complaint and whether the Court will order the Trump Defendants to comply with the (nearly two+ year old subpoena) both in terms of document production and depositions…
In advance of today’s hearing (scheduled to start at 3PM today) -Ivanka & Trump Jr sent the following Letter/Response to the Court earlier today (see NYS-SCROLL or see Scribd Link) and it should be noted the February 17, 2022 letter appears to be from all of the Trump Defendants. Which in of itself seems improper -to be clear in the first paragraph it’s disclosed the letter/response is from Trump Jr & Ivanka yet by page 2 it’s clear it’s for all the Trump Defendants
The Court should not consider the OAG’s eleventh hour improperly filed Letter Motion. The Letter Motion is a last-ditch effort to avoid addressing the important constitutional and statutory issues raised… We do not see how the OAG’s filing complies with the procedures for Special Proceedings (CPLR 402-06, 09), motion practice set forth in the CPLR, or the local rules. It is certainly not contemplated by the stipulation agreed to between the parties.
Pages 3 and 4 of the February 17, 2022 Letter/Response certainly reads like subterfuge but it’s important that the “unverified answers” ALAN S. FUTERFAS argues and repeatedly cites criminal rules of procedure. The New York County DA (DANYC) that DA’s office has empaneled a grand jury and investigating and the NY OAG has embedded two prosecutors from that office
Again you can read the February 17, 2022 Letter/Response via Scribd but I genuinely need to jump into my 1:45PM meeting and it’s unlikely that I’ll have time to either dial in to the hearing scheduled at 3PM today, which is disappointing because I have a feeling that today’s hearing will be intense. Nonetheless I will provide a follow up -update after COB today… also to those who think I’m reporting “old news” here’s my response the February 17, 2022 Update )which was published at 1:35PM) you do understand that the Trump Defendants literally filed their response at 12:59PM today…
It’s not my job to defend the nonsense that’s out there on social media platforms. My goal has always been to provide timely and in-depth analysis but sure I sat on the Trump Defendants response for maybe 120 seconds. Come on I don’t get paid to write these articles, you will take what I give you and you will be happy —or else (I’m totally kidding, sort of) again I’ll likely update this article after COB today, provided the Court makes a ruling on the various Motions…
…February 17, 2022 -3:35PM Update below Trump Sr, Ivanka & Trump Jr
must comply with the New York Attorney General Subpoenas, both documents and depositions. But here’s the thing Trump & his adult anchor baby children have often lied in Depositions. And the fact that Eric Trump previously asserted his 5th Amendment over 500 times, that translates to over 500 individual questions during his deposition. I’ve previously explained the factual implications of when a witness invokes their 5th Amendment Rights, read more here
Not surprising (at all) the Court DENIED the Trump Defendants Motion to Quash the subpoenas. See Scribd Link for today’s ruling This is a major victory for the New York Attorney General’s Office because not only was Trump’s Motion Denied -the Court concurrently granted the Plaintiffs cross motion;
…Eric Trump previously invoked his 5th Amendment Rights 500 TIMES…
I’m not certain what time limits Courts in New York pose on deposition but in the DMV (DC MD VA) depositions are limited to 4 to 6 hours per day -so factoring in Eric Trump’s Deposition was (at the minimum) 3 hours long -my GOD more than 500 times. Now that’s truly significant…
In the Court’s February 17, 2022 Ruling -he upbraid Trump Defendants specious arguments and did not mince words. The Court literally eviscerated nearly every single argument.
The Trump defendants have 21 days from…
..today to comply with the documents subpoena and the oral testimony subpoena—however I would expect that the Trump Defendants file (an almost immediate) appeal —that’s my way of telling you that you need to be patient but I do think the New York AG’s office will counter Trump’s appeal argument vis-a-vis “time is of the essence” counter argument. Keep in mind it took nearly two years for Eric Trump to finally show up for a deposition… so I’d advise you to keep your powder dry and leg Trump use the New York State appeal process…
An the Court confirmed that the New York Attorney General’s investigation has now become a hybrid investigation cross both civil and criminal act -the Court further opined that in light of the new information it would have been a;
…dereliction of duty for the New York AG to not expand their investigation… that is an incredibly important distinction
…that most will overlook because generally speaking most do not that the time to read the whole filings
Again I’m trying to multitask but I do not have the bandwidth to do a deeper dive into today’s ruling beyond the brief summarization cited above. See Scribd link for the 8 page Order/Memo
But for now I’m on a hard stop deadline of 4PM but I wanted my readers to have the Order as quickly as possible - I’ll do a more in-depth analysis after COB but I genuinely wish the mainstream media would actually cite the whole order versus a few throw away sentences because today’s order now puts the Trumps that much closer to a full on criminal indictment (or a superseding indictment)…
Before I go any further… Oh, how I love this line:
“Candidly Trump’s statements are nuttier than squirrel poop.” 😂
The trump family way - deny, delay, distract - I hope Miss James nails them all