After Ms. James subpoenaed Mr. Trump in December, lawyers for the former president argued that they conducted a thorough search for the records being sought by her investigators and found no new documents to provide. But Justice Engoron said Monday that the lawyers had not provided sufficient detail about how they had conducted the search.
The contempt order could be short-lived. If Alina Habba, one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, files a sworn statement detailing every step that was taken to locate potential documents, the judge might be satisfied, lawyers close to the case said. Ms. Habba said after the hearing ended that she intended to file such a statement.
Ms. Habba also said she intended to appeal the ruling.
“All documents responsive to the subpoena were produced to the attorney general months ago,” Ms. Habba said. “This does not even come close to meeting the standard on a motion for contempt.”
Mr. Trump has denied wrongdoing and lashed out at Ms. James, who is Black, calling her racist and accusing her of carrying out a politically motivated witch hunt against him.
At the hearing, Justice Engoron objected to an earlier statement from Mr. Trump’s lawyers regarding their efforts to search for documents, calling it “woefully insufficient” and “boilerplate.”
It failed, he said, to outline “what, who, where, when and how any search was conducted.”
The ruling and Justice Engoron’s comments represent a significant victory for Ms. James, whose office is conducting a civil investigation into whether Mr. Trump falsely inflated the value of his assets in annual financial statements.
In a statement, Ms. James applauded the contempt order, saying, “For years, Donald Trump has tried to evade the law and stop our lawful investigation into him and his company’s financial dealings.”