A New York state judge ruled that Donald Trump and his children Donald Jr. and Ivanka must answer questions under oath within 21 days as part of Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation of the Trump Organization.
New York State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron denied the Trumps’ efforts to quash subpoenas issued by James.
An appeal is expected.
Trump’s lawyers argued that James was trying to sidestep state law by having the former president testify in a civil proceeding while his company also is being investigated on criminal charges. The latter is a probe being conducted by the Manhattan District Attorney.
Trump himself has called James’ investigation politically motivated and a “sham.”
James is investigating whether the company used fraudulent valuations of properties for the purpose of obtaining loans.
Earlier this week, Trump’s longtime accountant, Mazars USA, announced that it was cutting ties with him and his business, and that it could no longer stand behind financial statements made from 2011 to 2020. The accounting firm said in a letter to the Trump Organization that it had not concluded that the statements, as a whole. “contain material discrepancies.” But the firm said that “based upon the totality of the circumstances, we believe our advice to you to no longer rely upon those financial statements is appropriate.”
Trump also was ordered to produce additional documents within 14 days.
James said in a statement, “Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., and Ivanka Trump have been ordered by the court to comply with our lawful investigation into Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization’s financial dealings. No one will be permitted to stand in the way of the pursuit of justice, no matter how powerful they are. No one is above the law.”
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