Daily Times

New York: A US judge ruled Thursday that former president Donald Trump and his eldest children must testify under oath in New York’s civil probe into alleged fraud at his family business.

The ruling is the latest legal blow to the 75-year-old as he fights numerous cases that threaten to complicate any bid for another run at the White House in 2024.

The Trumps have repeatedly tried to shut down the investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who last month said she had uncovered “significant evidence” of fraudulent or misleading practices at the Trump Organization.

Following more than two hours of oral arguments, state judge Arthur Engoron rejected a plea by Trump, Donald Jr, and Ivanka to quash subpoenas issued by James in December. He ordered the trio to sit for depositions with James’s office within 21 days. The Trumps are expected to appeal.

Their lawyers argued that the subpoenas in the civil case were an attempt by James to grab evidence for a parallel criminal investigation into the Trump Organization that she is involved with. They argued that James was trying to bypass a New York state law that grants immunity to witnesses that appear before a grand jury in criminal cases.

Engoron said their argument “completely misses the mark,” noting that neither the Manhattan district attorney, which is running the criminal investigation, nor James’s office have ordered the Trumps to appear before a grand jury.

In his ruling, Engoron added that the Trumps could invoke their Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate themselves during questioning in the civil case. He noted that Trump’s son Eric had pleaded the fifth “more than 500 times” during a deposition for James’s investigation in October 2020.

Engoron also rejected Trump’s claim that the inquiry by James, a Democrat, is politically motivated. Following the ruling, Trump’s lawyer slammed James’s investigation as “yet another politically motivated witch-hunt,” one of the ex-leaders favorite refrains.

“The court clearly had its mind made up and had no interest in engaging in impartial discourse on this critically important issue,” attorney Alina Habba said in a statement.