NEW YORK — Days after former President Donald Trump tested the witness standhis civil trial for business fraud in New York revolves around the question of whether his daughter Ivanka will also have to testify.
Friday’s court session will begin with a hearing on the issue. Ivanka Trump has been dismissed from the case and lawyers for his family and his company maintain that he should not have to take the stand. Lawyers for New York state say he should, arguing that the former executive vice president of the Trump Organization has relevant information.
It’s unclear how soon Judge Arthur Engoron will rule, or when Ivanka Trump will testify if she is ordered to do so.
The civil case, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, accuses the former president, his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, and the company of exaggerating the patriarch’s wealth for years in financial statements that were provided to banks, insurers and others to help secure loans and offers.
The Trumps and their companies deny the allegations, and the former president and current 2024 Republican front-runner has called the trial a politically motivated “sham.” James is a Democrat.
The former president and his children are expected to testify at some point. In a surprise development, Trump’s father briefly ended up on the witness stand Wednesday to answer Engoron’s questions about an out-of-court comment.
Ivanka Trump’s lawyer argued in court papers that it is unreasonable to force her to take the stand. Noting that she is no longer a defendant or resident of New York, attorney Bennet Moskowitz said the attorney general’s office was trying to “impose a heavy, unnecessary and inappropriate burden on Mrs. Trump to fill apparent gaps” in the case. of the state.
In a separate filing, Donald Trump’s defense accused the state of belatedly attempting to “unnecessarily drag Mrs. Trump into a highly publicized trial for the obvious purpose of harassing both Mrs. Trump and her father.”
In June, a state appeals court dismissed the allegations against him as too old. Ivanka Trump announced in January 2017, before her father’s inauguration, that would leave his job in the Trump Organization. It soon became unpaid senior adviser to the Trump White House.
State lawyers, however, maintain in court documents that Ivanka Trump “was a key participant” in many of the events discussed in the case and “remains financially and professionally intertwined” with the family business and its leaders.
Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.
2023-10-27 13:02:49
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