Trump, Ivanka, Don Jr. subpoenaed in N.Y. attorney general’s probe
NEW YORK — The New York Attorney General’s Office confirmed Monday that it has 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.
Attorney General Letitia James’ office said in a court filing that it recently issued subpoenas seeking the Trumps’ testimony and documents as part of a yearslong civil probe involving matters including “the valuation of properties owned or controlled” by Trump and his company.
Monday’s filing, made public as the Trumps gear up to fight the subpoenas, was the first time that investigators publicly disclosed that they are also seeking information from Ivanka 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.
James went to court recently seeking to have a judge force the Trumps to comply with the subpoenas. The Trumps are expected to file court papers seeking to have them thrown out. A similar legal battle played out last year after James’ office subpoenaed another Trump son, Trump Organization executive Eric Trump, and a judge forced him to testify after his lawyers abruptly canceled a scheduled deposition.
The dispute over the new subpoenas played out in secret until Monday, when the judge who handled the fight over Eric Trump’s testimony agreed to entertain arguments over the recent subpoenas and the court filing from James’ office was posted to the public court docket.
The same judge, Arthur Engoron, previously sided with James on other matters relating to the probe, including forcing Trump’s company and a law firm it hired to turn over troves of records pertaining to a Trump-owned estate north of Manhattan.
Messages seeking comment were left with the Trumps’ lawyers and the Trump Organization.
Last month, Trump sued James in federal court, seeking to put an end to her investigation. Trump, in the lawsuit, claimed that the attorney general had violated the Republican’s constitutional rights in a “thinly-veiled effort to publicly malign Trump and his associates.”
In the past, the Republican ex-president 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.
In a statement Monday, James’ office said: “As her investigation into financial dealing of the Trump Organization continues, Attorney General James is seeking interviews under oath of Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump.“
“Despite numerous attempts to delay our investigation by the Trump Organization, we are confident that our questions will be answered and the truth will be uncovered because no one is above the law,” the statement said.
Although James’ civil investigation is separate from the criminal investigation, her office has been involved in both.