(Headline USA) Former President Donald Trump must answer questions under oath in New York state’s civil investigation into his business practices, a judge ruled Thursday.
Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump and his two eldest children, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., to comply with subpoenas issued in December by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
James, a Democrat, claims her investigation has uncovered evidence Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, used “fraudulent or misleading” valuations of assets like golf courses and skyscrapers to get loans and tax benefits.
The politically ambitious James, whose lengthy fishing expedition into Trump’s finances fulfills a signature campaign pledge from her 2018 race, was slammed by the former president in response to the contentious ruling.
“[F]ailed Gubernatorial candidate, Letitia James, can run for the office of AG on saying absolutely horrendous and false things about Donald Trump, a man she doesn’t know and has never met, go on to get elected, and then selectively prosecute him and his family,” Trump wrote in a statement Thursday evening via his Save America PAC. “… She is doing everything within their corrupt discretion to interfere with my business relationships, and with the political process.”
Trump noted that James’ case—which rests on the testimony of his indicted ex-attorney Michael Cohen—only managed to uncover one issue despite reviewing millions of pages worth of documents.
Last summer, the Manhattan district attorney’s office charged Trump Organization finance chief Allen Weisselberg and the Trump Organization with tax fraud, alleging he collected more than $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation. Weisselberg and the company have pleaded not guilty.
“After viewing millions of pages of documents over many years, they come up with a “Fringe Benefits” case on a car, an apartment, and on grandchildren’s education,” Trump said in his statement. “…With the rest of the case, even Cy Vance, who just left the DA’s office without prosecuting anything additional, because there isn’t anything additional to prosecute—THERE IS NO CASE!”
The arguments from Trump’s lawyers centered around the fact that Vance—who was recently replaced by George Soros-backed DA Alvin Bragg—was colluding with James to pursue a parallel case that put Trump in legal jeopardy by violating his right not to testify criminally under the Fifth Amendment.
On the other hand, refusal in a civil trial might be regarded as an admission of guilt, even if the purpose of the deposition was to lay a political and legal trap.
“It is a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in history—and remember, I can’t get a fair hearing in New York because of the hatred of me by Judges and the judiciary,” Trump railed. “It is not possible!”
His lawyers argued that any cooperation in the civil trial should be contingent upon guaranteed protections in the Manhattan criminal probe.
“If she wants sworn testimony from my client, he’s entitled to immunity. He gets immunity for what he says, or he says nothing,” Trump’s criminal defense lawyer, Ronald Fischetti, said in the two-hour hearing, which was conducted by video conference.
Engoron, however, shrugged off the unprecedented circumstances to side with the corrupt leftist prosecutors at Thursday’s hearing.
He ruled that Trump and his two children must sit for depositions within 21 days.
“In the final analysis, a State Attorney General commences investigating a business entity, uncovers copious evidence of possible financial fraud, and wants to question, under oath, several of the entities’ principals, including its namesake,” Engoron wrote in his decision. “She has the clear right to do so.”
The eight-page ruling is almost certain to be appealed, but if upheld it could force the former president into a tough decision about whether to answer questions, or stay silent, citing his Fifth Amendment right.
Leftists reacted by gloating over the Catch-22 Trump has been forced into, despite there being no evidence presented of wrongdoing on his part.
Anything Trump says in a civil deposition could be used against him in the criminal probe being overseen by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. If Trump invokes the Fifth Amendment, Fischetti said it could still hurt a potential criminal defense.
“That’ll be on every front page in the newspaper in the world,” Fischetti said. “How can I possibly pick a jury in that case?”
A lawyer for the attorney general’s office, Kevin Wallace, told Engoron that it wasn’t unusual to have civil and criminal investigations proceeding at the same time. The judge rejected a request from lawyers for the Trumps to pause the civil probe until the criminal matter is over.
“Mr. Trump is a high profile individual, yes. That’s unique,” Wallace said. “It’s unique that so many people are paying attention to a rather dry hearing about subpoena enforcement. But the legal issues that we’re dealing with here are pretty standard.”
In a previous legal spat arising from James’s investigation, Engoron ordered another Trump son, Eric Trump, to testify in 2020 after his lawyers abruptly canceled a scheduled deposition. Eric Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment hundreds of times in his interview.
Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., both of whom have been executives in their family’s business, said in the hearing that he had no reason to believe either are targets of the district attorney’s criminal investigation.
At Thursday’s hearing, Trump lawyer Alina Habba accused James of “selective prosecution” and said the attorney general is “engaging in viewpoint discrimination” motivated by her political ambitions and disdain for the Republican former president, evinced by comments she made over the years about going after Trump.
“We have an extraordinary rare case where we can prove selective prosecution because she’s put her words out there so much and taken every opportunity to voice her vendetta against Donald Trump and his family to take him down,” Habba said.
Wallace noted the state attorney general’s office was investigating Trump-related matters as far back as 2013, long before James was elected, including probes into his charitable foundation and the Trump University training program.
Engoron said the thousands of pages of evidence he’s reviewed in the case shows there’s sufficient basis for continuing the investigation and undercuts “the notion that this ongoing investigation is based on personal animus, not facts and law.”
Engoron also seized on the revelation this week that Trump’s longtime accounting firm sent a letter advising him to no longer rely on years of financial statements it prepared based on his company’s valuations, given questions about their accuracy.
Although there is strong indication that the firm may have been pressured into issuing the letter—which said its own investigation yielded no evidence of inaccuracies—the corrupt judge suggested it be regarded as evidence of guilt.
Engoron claimed the letter was a “red-flag warning that the Trump financial statements are unreliable” and criticized Trump’s company for its contention, in a statement to the news media, that because the accounting firm did not conclude there were material discrepancies in the documents, James’ investigation should be shut down.
That claim, he wrote, “is as audacious as it is preposterous,” the judge opined.
In her own statement, James reiterated a hollow platitude that she has repeated regularly in press conferences touting her relentless pursuit of political adversaries: “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.”
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press