Trump Firms Have History Of Destroying Records, Dragging Out Litigation

A Newsweek investigation found that Donald Trump’s companies have for decades destroyed or hidden thousands of emails, digital records and paper documents in defiance of court orders. The firms also used untruthful affidavits, and regularly took steps to drag out litigation for years, forcing opponents to spend enormous sums of money. This pattern dates all the way back to 1973, when Trump, his father, and their real estate company faced federal prosecutors over civil charges that they refused to rent apartments to black tenants. “The Trump strategy was simple,” Newsweek reports, “deny, impede and delay, while destroying documents the court had ordered them to hand over.” In one case, a Trump technology official admitted to lying in a sworn deposition about how the company structured its email. But the admission was moot, as Trump Hotels routinely erased emails, and had no document retention plan in place for ongoing litigation. The review of Trump’s litigation tactics “helps explain his behavior since he declared his candidacy,” Newsweek writes. “He promised to turn over his tax returns and his health records – just as he promised to comply with document discovery requirements in so many lawsuits – then reneged.”