A New York ruling ordered Thursday that former President Donald Trump and two of his sons testify under oath in the investigation against the Trump Organization for falsifying business records.
The judge of the Supreme Court of New York, Arthur Engoron, has thus requested the deposition in the next three weeks of the former US president, his son, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump within the framework of the investigation carried out New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The Trump children were heavily involved in their father's company, the Trump Organization, which they joined as business partners after graduating from college. In 2017, when Trump became president, the company was left in the hands of his children and the financial director, Allen H.
Weisselberg.
The attorney general who is handling the case, Letitia James, seeks to find out with this investigation if members of the Trump family fraudulently inflated the value of their activities to guarantee bank loans with the aim of reducing their tax bill.
“Ultimately, the State Attorney General's Office has investigated a business entity, uncovered abundant evidence of possible financial fraud, and questioned, under oath, a variety of the entities' directors, including their namesake. She has the right to do so,” Engoron ruled Thursday.
Trump will appeal the decision
The lawyer of former President Donald Trump, Ronald Fischetti, has transferred to the CNN network after the ruling that they will peel the decision and seek the suspension of the order: “I have told my client that I had no hope that this judge would give us the relief we wanted.”
"Today a court ruled in our favor that Donald Trump must compare before my office as part of our investigation into his financial dealings," Attorney General Letitia James, for her part, celebrated on her official Twitter profile, adding that " no one will be allowed to stand in the way of the pursuit of justice, no matter how powerful they are."
In addition to efforts to overturn the subpoenas, the Trumps' attorneys argued that if James wants their testimony, they should go before a grand jury where they could be granted immunity, according to CNN.
The Trumps' lawyers argued that James wants to question the trio to improperly compile evidence in a part of the Manhattan District Attorney's investigation, according to the US network NBC News.
This other investigation, led by the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, seeks to find out at least eight years of Trump's tax returns after suspicions of certain financial irregularities, including the secret payment of $130,000 (106,000 euros) to adult film actor Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about the alleged relationship they would have had.
