A New York appeals court has reportedly rejected a request tracing to Ivanka Trump to temporarily put her imminently scheduled testimony on hold in the civil fraud case brought against her family by the state’s Attorney General Letitia James. Ivanka herself was originally named in that case, but she was removed from its targets on statute of limitations grounds.
Ivanka had already been directed to take the stand by the judge overseeing the ongoing trial, Arthur Engoron. She was originally slated to take the stand as the state presented its case this week, but that’s been pushed to next week, when her father — meaning Donald Trump — is also scheduled to answer James’ questions.
This week, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump gave testimony. Donald Jr. reportedly was characteristically dismissive, claiming he wasn’t substantially involved in disputed statements of financial condition that are central to the fraud allegations in James’ case. An expert witness testifying for James estimated that financial institutions lost out on $168 million in profits through what James’ team argues were lower-than-appropriate interest rates. Donald Jr. also claimed to lack knowledge of certain basic accounting principles utilized in relation to the Trumps’ claims of value that were allegedly deceptive.
Also in court this Thursday, Engoron shared outrage at continued complaints from the defense for the Trumps about a law clerk of his — whose targeting by the former president drove the widely reported gag order in this case, which Engoron eventually found Donald to have repeatedly violated, fining him $15,000. Engoron suggested the commentary from the Trumps’ team was fueled by misogyny, and he threatened the extension of formal restrictions on remarks. Engoron also defended the usage of notes for communications between him and the clerk, rejecting a Trump lawyer’s argument that First Amendment protections meant he could keep complaining about the clerk how he wanted.
