A New York judge ruled on Thursday that former President Donald Trump and two of his adult children – Donald Jr. and Ivanka – must comply with a subpoena from New York Attorney General Letitia James and answer questions under oath related to her probe of their business practices.
Trump’s lawyer argued that the case was unique because he is a former president.
“To me, he’s a citizen,” state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron replied. He added that the Trumps can invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if they so choose. Eric Trump, the former president’s middle son, chose that path last year.
NBC News explains:
In his ruling, [Engoron] gave the green light for the three Trumps be deposed within the next three weeks. Their lawyers indicated at a hearing earlier in the day that they would appeal if the judge let the depositions proceed.
James’ office is looking into whether to file a civil suit against the Trump Organization over allegedly inflated financial statements. In court filings, her office alleged it has “uncovered substantial evidence establishing numerous misrepresentations in Mr. Trump’s financial statements provided to banks, insurers, and the Internal Revenue Service.”
Among the items James wants to ask Trump about are several “Statements of Financial Condition” involving the company that the attorney general says were inflated by hundreds of millions of dollars and that had been signed off on by the former president.
The Trumps’ loss in court comes midway through a tumultuous week for the former first family.
Earlier this week, James revealed in a court filing that Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, had said the financial statements it prepared for Trump between 2011 and 2020 were unreliable and that they could no longer represent him.
The disclosure was an existential blow to Trump’s business interests, because it calls into question the foundation of deals he made during that period. Creditors can demand immediate repayment if agreements were struck based on bad information, according to some experts.
Trump released a furious, five-page response to James’ disclosure, accusing her or being racist and bullying the accounting firm.
Reuters explains why that response puts Trump’s lawyers in a tough position as they try to defend him against accusations that he inflated the value of his properties in order to receive favorable treatment from banks and other lenders:
Trump’s attorneys repeatedly stated that he did not know enough to respond to allegations of inaccurate valuations. But the former president’s five-page statement got into detail about possible discrepancies, implying that he had more knowledge than his lawyers said.
James echoed that characterization, writing in a Wednesday letter to a New York court our quote of the day.
“It is not unusual for parties to a legal proceeding to disagree about the facts. But 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.”
New York AG Letitia James
