NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump will take the stand Nov. 6 in the civil business fraud case against him, facing prosecutors following testimony from his three oldest children, New York state lawyers said Friday. .
The former president and his sons Donald Jr. and Eric were already expected to testify. The timing became clear Friday, after the judge ruled that his daughter Ivanka Trump must also testify.
The schedule establishes a highly successful stretch in the trial of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit. She alleges that the former president, the current favorite to win the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election, exaggerated his wealth for years in financial statements that were provided to banks, insurers and others to help secure loans and deals.
Trump denies any wrongdoing and views the trial as a farce for political purposes. James is a Democrat.
Donald Trump and his two sons are accused in the lawsuit.
In a surprise development, Donald Trump ended up testifying briefly Wednesday to answer questions from Judge Arthur Engoron about whether a comment outside court was directed against the judge’s legal counsel. Previously, the judge had prohibited participants in the trial from speaking publicly about court personnel.
Trump said his comment was not referring to the employee; Engoron called that testimony “not credible” and fined Trump $10,000, in addition to a $5,000 fine imposed days earlier for an online post about the employee. Trump’s lawyers paid both fines on his behalf, but could still appeal them, according to a court filing filed Friday.
Donald Trump Jr. will testify next Wednesday, his brother Eric on Thursday and his sister Ivanka on November 3, although their lawyers could appeal to prevent her testimony.
Ivanka Trump must testify as a witness in the civil fraud trial against her father, her brothers and the family business, Judge Engoron ruled on Friday.
Ivanka Trump had been excluded as a defendant and her lawyer argued that she should not testify because she left New York and resigned from her position at the Trump Organization in 2017. Prosecutors argued that the organization’s former executive vice president has relevant information.
Engoron sided with prosecutors, citing documents showing that Ivanka Trump still has ties to some businesses in New York and owns apartments in Manhattan.
“Mrs. Trump has evidently taken advantage of the privilege of doing business in New York,” Engoron said. He added that her deposition would not be before November 1 to give her attorneys time to appeal.
Ivanka Trump’s lawyer, Bennet Moskowitz, had previously told the judge that state attorneys “do not have jurisdiction over her.”
An appeals court dismissed the charges against her in June as too old. In January 2017, before her father’s inauguration, Ivanka Trump said she was resigning from her position at the Trump Organization. She soon after began acting as an unpaid senior adviser to her father in the White House. At the end of her father’s presidency, she moved to Florida.
“The idea that Mrs. Trump is somehow under the control of the Trump Organization or any of the defendants, her father, anyone who has raised a daughter beyond the age of 13 knows that she is not under their control,” he said. Christopher Kise, a lawyer for the former president.
Kise maintained that the prosecution “just wants a new brawl with another of President Trump’s sons.”
But accusers argued that Ivanka Trump was a crucial participant in some of the events discussed in the case and maintains financial and professional ties to the family business and its bosses.
Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.
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2023-10-27 20:16:46
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