Trump’s testimony is sought in N.Y. case
Attorney general wants to depose the former president for a civil inquiry into his business practices.
NEW YORK — New York’s attorney general is seeking former President Trump’s testimony in an ongoing investigation into his business practices, a person familiar with the matter said.
Atty. Gen. Letitia James’ office has requested that Trump sit for a deposition Jan. 7, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
Trump’s representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A message seeking comment was left with Trump’s lawyer, Ronald Fischetti. James’ office declined to comment.
The news was first reported by the Washington Post.
In the past, the Republican ex-president has decried the investigation as part of a “witch hunt.”
James, a Democrat who is running for governor, has spent more than two years looking at whether Trump’s company, 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.
Requesting Trump’s testimony is a first step in a process that could eventually lead to issuing a subpoena and going to a judge to order him to cooperate if he were to refuse.
James’ investigators last year interviewed one of Trump’s sons, Trump Organization executive Eric Trump, as part of the inquiry. James’ office went to court to enforce a subpoena on the younger Trump, and a judge forced him to testify after his lawyers abruptly canceled a scheduled deposition.
The civil investigation is separate from a criminal investigation into Trump’s business practices being led by Manhattan Dist. Atty. Cyrus Vance Jr., who gained access to Trump’s tax records after a multiyear fight that twice went to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Vance, who is leaving office at the end of the year, recently convened a new grand jury to hear evidence as he weighs whether to seek more indictments in the case, which resulted in tax fraud charges in July against the Trump Organization and its longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg.
Weisselberg has pleaded not guilty to charges that he and the company cheated tax authorities with lucrative, untaxed fringe benefits. He is due back in court in July 2022.
Asked about the status of the criminal investigation, Vance said last week: “I think it’s pretty clear that our investigation is active and ongoing.”
James’ office is involved in Vance’s criminal inquiry while also conducting its own civil investigation.
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.
James’ office issued subpoenas to local governments as part of the civil investigation, demanding records pertaining to Trump’s estate north of Manhattan, Seven Springs, and a tax benefit Trump received for placing land into a conservation trust. Vance later issued subpoenas seeking many of the same records.
James’ office has also been looking at similar issues related to a Trump office building in New York City, a hotel in Chicago and a golf course near Los Angeles. Her office also won a series of court rulings forcing Trump’s company and a law firm it hired to turn over troves of records.
In October, Trump testified under oath behind closed doors for several hours during a deposition in a lawsuit brought by protesters who say his security team roughed them up in the early days of his presidential campaign in 2015.
Trump had faced a Dec. 23 deadline for questioning in former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos’ defamation lawsuit against him, but she dropped the case last month.
Trump was less cooperative with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian election interference.
Mueller’s team of investigators sought an interview with Trump for months, and although Trump at times stated publicly that he was willing to sit down with them, his lawyers long resisted the overture.
Instead, Trump’s lawyers in November 2018 submitted written responses that Mueller’s team regarded as “inadequate.” Prosecutors in that matter decided against subpoenaing Trump to compel his testimony.