Trump, 2 eldest kids face subpoena
NEW YORK — The office of New York’s attorney general confirmed for the first time Monday that it had subpoenaed former President Donald Trump and his two eldest children, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., demanding their testimony in an investigation into the family’s business practices.
In a court filing, lawyers for Attorney General Letitia James said they are seeking the Trumps’ testimony and documents as part of a years-long civil probe involving matters including “the valuation of properties owned or controlled” by Trump and his company.
Monday’s filing was the first public disclosure that investigators scrutinizing the former president’s dealings were also seeking information from Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., both trusted allies of their father who’ve been executives in his family’s Trump Organization.
Last month, it was reported that James’ office had requested Trump sit for a deposition.
James, a Democrat, has spent more than two years looking at whether the Trump Organization misled banks or tax officials about the value of assets — inflating them to gain favorable loan terms or minimizing them to reap tax savings.
The Trumps have indicated they will fight the subpoenas and are expected to file court papers through their lawyers seeking to have them thrown out. A similar legal fight played out last year after James’ office subpoenaed the testimony of another Trump son, Eric Trump.
Trump sued James in federal court last month, seeking to put an end to her investigation. Trump, in the lawsuit, claimed that James had violated his constitutional rights in a “thinly-veiled effort to publicly malign Trump and his associates.”
A state court judge who handled that dispute agreed Monday to entertain arguments over the recent subpoenas.
Messages seeking comment were left Monday with the Trumps’ lawyers and the Trump Organization. A message seeking comment was also left with the attorney general’s office.
In the past, the Republican expresident has decried James’ investigation as part of a “witch hunt” along with a parallel criminal probe being run by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
James’ office went to court last year to enforce a subpoena on Eric Trump, a Trump Organization executive, and a judge forced him to testify after his lawyers abruptly canceled a previously scheduled deposition.
The same judge, Arthur Engoron, has ruled in the past to enforce subpoenas stemming from the Trump probe.
Although the civil investigation is separate from the district attorney’s criminal investigation, James’ office has been involved in both.
Both investigations are at least partly related to allegations made in news reports and by Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, that Trump had a history of misrepresenting the value of assets.