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Ivanka Trump escaped her family’s $250 million civil fraud case, but she can’t escape testifying in it.
That’s according to Judge Arthur Engoron, who on Friday rejected the argument that the state was harassing and burdening “President Trump’s daughter,” even though she’s no longer a defendant in the case and was no longer living in the state. New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office said the witness has relevant information for the case even if she’s no longer a party to it.
“Ms. Trump,” Engoron said Friday in approving her testimony, “has clearly availed herself of the privilege of doing business in New York.” He said she can’t get out of appearing in James’ lawsuit that’s pending in Manhattan civil court.
As for when we could see this testimony, the judge said she couldn’t be called before Nov. 1, giving her time to appeal and setting the stage for an even spookier Halloween for the Trump family, following former Donald Trump fixer and current foil Michael Cohen’s testimony this week.
Ivanka Trump was initially named in James’ lawsuit, along with the GOP presidential frontrunner and his oldest sons Eric and Don Jr., but she was dropped from the case for statute of limitations reasons before trial. The suit filed last year noted that Ivanka was executive vice president for development and acquisitions of the Trump Organization through early January 2017, where, among other things, she negotiated and secured financing for Trump Org properties. She retained a financial interest in the organization’s operations after leaving it, according to the lawsuit.
James’ office plans to call Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka to the stand next week and Donald Trump himself the following Monday, Nov. 6, NBC News reported on Friday.
The news comes as Trump earned his second gag order fine in as many weeks, a relatively measly $10,000, after a $5,000 fine for his first violation. With the likely stress of the Trumps facing oath-bound testimony — which Engoron has already found not credible when it came to the former president's gag order violation defense — watch for that number to go up in the days ahead.
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