Donald J. Trump and two of his older children agreed to be sworn in in mid-July by lawyers from the New York State Attorney’s Office unless the state’s highest court intervenes.
The agreement, filed Wednesday with the New York State Supreme Court, says Mr. Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump have agreed to testify, which will begin on Friday, July 15, and will end next week.
The interrogation will come when Attorney General Leticia James completes the final phase of his investigation into Mr. Trump and his Trump Organization’s business practices. The agreement follows a series of legal hurdles for the former president, whose lawyers have been battling the chief prosecutor for months, hoping to avoid questioning.
The agreement was filed two weeks after the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled to allow the interrogation. The court rejected the arguments of Mr. Trump’s lawyers that Ms. James’ civil investigation was politically motivated and that she should be barred from questioning Mr. Trump while he was also under criminal investigation for some of the same business practices.
Alina Haba, Mr Trump’s lawyer, said shortly after the decision that he would appeal the matter to the Court of Appeals. It is unclear whether the court will agree to hear the case, but if it does, the three members of the Trump family can still hope to avoid interviews.
Another adult child of Mr. Trump, Eric Trump, was questioned under oath in October 2020 and invoked his right to self-incrimination in response to more than 500 questions. Although Mr. Trump and the two children could refuse to answer questions for the same reason, this could hurt them in asking Mrs. James. In a criminal case, jurors cannot do anything by refusing to testify, but this does not apply to civil cases.
Ms. James’ investigation began in March 2019 and focuses on whether Mr. Trump has systematically misrepresented the value of his assets in order to gain a financial advantage over creditors and tax authorities. As the investigation is a civil one, Ms. James cannot file criminal charges, but she can file a lawsuit. A lawyer from her office signaled in April that such a filing could happen in the near future.
Attorneys for Ms. James’ office are also involved in a criminal investigation conducted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg. This investigation was aimed at bringing an indictment before Mr Bragg and some of his top aides developed concerns about the strength of the case.
During the civil investigation, Mr. Trump was arrested for contempt of court in April by U.S. District Court Judge Arthur F. Engorn and sentenced to pay $ 10,000 a day until his lawyers filed a number of documents sought by the Attorney General. . The following month, Judge Engoron overturned the fine for contempt, but set conditions and said he would reinstate the sentence if Mr Trump did not comply.
After a hearing with Mr Trump’s lawyers and Ms James on Wednesday, the judge said he would uphold the order – without a fine – and gave Mr Trump’s lawyers a deadline of next Friday to submit information. for Trump Document Preservation Policies.
In a recent live appearance on the Pod Save America podcast, Ms James said Mr Trump was “caught” using “funny numbers in his financial documents”. She also said she would “allow him to exhaust his complaint”.
Mr Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, calling Mrs James’s investigation a witch hunt and the Attorney General a radical left-wing “racist”.
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