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According to a judge, Donald Trump and his two eldest children must testify in the investigation into the family’s business practices by the New York attorney general.
Judge Arthur Engoron of the New York State Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Donald Trump, his eldest son Donald Jr. and his eldest daughter Ivanka’s argument for trying to quash subpoenas for testimony and evidence “completely misses the mark.”
Depositions for the Trumps must be taken within 21 days of being granted permission by the judge.
During the course of the criminal probe, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office issued subpoenas to the attorney general’s office for its civil investigation. This was deemed inappropriate by the Trumps.
“This argument completely misses the mark. Neither OAG nor the Manhattan District Attorney’s office has subpoenaed the New Trump Respondents to appear before a grand jury,” Engoron said in his decision. “The New Trump Respondents’ argument overlooks the salient fact that they have an absolute right to refuse to answer questions that they claim may incriminate them.”
The judge said that when Eric Trump went for a deposition about the same investigation two years ago, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination over 500 times.
“Today, justice prevailed,” Letitia James, New York Attorney General, declared. “Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., and Ivanka Trump have been ordered by the court to comply with our lawful investigation into Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization’s financial dealings. 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.”
In response to the judge’s ruling, Trump attacked the investigation in a statement.
“She is doing everything within their corrupt discretion to interfere with my business relationships, and with the political process,” Trump accused. “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. It is not possible!”
Attorney Alan Futerfas, representing the Trump family, said the Trumps intend to appeal the decision.
James stated while running for attorney general that she planned on investigating the former president and his family’s real estate company. Trump argued that the investigation is overtly political.
According to the judge, those statements were irrelevant to the validity of the subpoenas.
“Attorney General James, just like respondent Donald J. Trump, was not deprived of her First Amendment rights to free speech when she was a politician running for a public office with investigatory powers,” the decision read.
“The abhorrent statements made by Letitia leave no doubt that this is yet another politically motivated witch-hunt,” Trump attorney Alina Habba claimed after the ruling. “The court clearly had its mind made up and had no interest in engaging in impartial discourse on this critically important issue.”
Kevin Wallace, an attorney with the AG’s office, characterized Donald Trump as a “recidivist” by pointing out that James didn’t target him for political reasons but rather because previous AGs had pursued cases against Trump University and the Trump Foundation dating back to 2013.
The decision, Engoron said, cited his review of thousands of documents that showed the investigation had a sound basis, undermining any notions that the investigation was motivated by personal animus.
James’ failure to launch the investigation and fail to issue subpoenas, Engoron added, “would have been a blatant dereliction of duty (and would have broken an oft-repeated campaign promise.)”
In addition, the decision stated that James’ investigation was not motivated by personal animus.
Also during the hearing earlier, Engoron mentioned the “800-pound gorilla in the room” – whether Donald Trump should get special treatment as a former president.
“I’m basically trying not to do anything differently. He’s a citizen, he’s a respondent,” said the judge.
The court’s decision was lauded by James, who said, “Today, justice prevailed.”
“No one will be permitted to stand in the way of the pursuit of justice, no matter how powerful they are.”
Don Jr. and Ivanka’s lawyer, Alan Futerfas, said the couple would likely appeal the decision.
Habba indicated that they are appealing the decision, saying that it has “confirmed what we’ve already known for some time — Donald J. Trump cannot get a fair ruling in the State of New York.”
“The abhorrent statements made by Letitia leave no doubt that this is yet another politically motivated witch-hunt,” Habba declared. “It is disappointing that the judge overlooked her egregious prosecutorial misconduct and has allowed her investigation — which blatantly violates the US Constitution — to continue undeterred.”
On Wednesday Trump claimed that Democrats spied on his White House as well as his New York City apartment.
He made the allegations in response to a court filing that Trump supporters claim shows that his political adversaries spied on his internet traffic during the 2016 presidential campaign.
These come from Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation into the origins of accusations that the Trump campaign had connections to Russia.
Source: The Republic Brief