Donald Trump finally pays a bill

Former President Donald Trump has temporarily broken away from his lifelong habit of refusing to pay his obligations. On Friday, the twice-impeached ex-commander in chief wrote a check to the state of New York to satisfy financial penalties that had racked up from a contempt of court citation that was issued last month.

The fees added up to $110,000 and were levied by New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron in April after Trump refused to comply with subpoenas issued by New York Attorney General Letitia James in her ongoing civil fraud probe into the Trump Organization.

James has amassed substantial evidence that Trump and his associates manipulated the values of his real estate holdings in order to secure loans and evade taxes. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is conducting a parallel criminal investigation.

On May 6th, Engoron suspended the contempt charge as long as Trump paid his bill and cooperated with James' investigation. The deadline arrived today.

"Engoron gave Trump until May 20 to file a long list of additional affidavits detailing his attorneys' search for records and electronic devices, and explanations of the Trump Organization's document retention and destruction policies. Trump and his company were also required to cooperate with a long-delayed court-mandated discovery effort by a third party company tasked with sorting through years of corporate records. The firm completed its discovery on Thursday, the same day Trump's payment was delivered," CBS News noted on Friday. "After Trump's team submits the affidavits, Engoron will decide if they satisfy the terms of the subpoena for which Trump was held in contempt. If they are not satisfactory, the contempt finding can be reinstated retroactive to May 7, meaning Trump would owe an additional $130,000."