Judge: Eric Trump must give NY deposition before election

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s son Eric has until Oct. 7 to speak to New York investigators probing his family’s business practices, a judge ruled Wednesday, rejecting his lawyers’ contention that his “extreme travel schedule” on the campaign trail warranted a delay until after the November election.

State Judge Arthur Engoron said Eric Trump, an executive at the family’s Trump Organization, had no legal basis to postpone a subpoena seeking his deposition testimony under oath, concluding that neither the probe nor the court were “bound by the timelines of the national election.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James went to court to enforce the subpoena after Eric Trump’s lawyers abruptly canceled a July interview with investigators looking into whether the Trump Organization lied about the value of its assets in order to get loans or tax benefits.

The investigation is civil, not criminal, in nature and investigators have yet to determine whether any law was broken.

James, a Democrat, said Wednesday’s ruling “makes clear that no one is above the law, not even an organization or an individual with the name Trump.”

In a court filing last week, Eric Trump’s lawyers said he was willing to comply with the subpoena, but could do so only after the Nov. 3 election. In addition to scheduling conflicts related to his father’s reelection campaign, they said they wanted “to avoid the use of his deposition attendance for political purposes.”

Futerfas told Engoron they were “happy for him to sit down and be deposed” but needed more time to review with him thousands of pages of documents sought by James’ office. Any deposition would happen out of public view and would likely remain confidential because of the ongoing investigation.