NEW YORK (AP) — Days after former President Donald Trump got a taste of the witness stand, his New York civil business fraud trial is turning to the question of whether his daughter Ivanka will have to testify, too.
Friday's court session is set to start with a hearing on the issue. Ivanka Trump has been dismissed from the case, and lawyers for her family and its business contend that she shouldn't have to take the stand. New York state lawyers say she should, and they argue that the former Trump Organization executive vice president has relevant information.
It's unclear how soon Judge Arthur Engoron will decide, or when Ivanka Trump would testify if ordered to do so.
The civil case, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, accuses the former president, sons Donald Jr. and Eric, and the company of overstating the patriarch’s wealth for years on financial statements that were given to banks, insurers and others to help secure loans and deals.
The Trumps and their business deny the allegations, and the former president and current Republican 2024 front-runner has called the trial a politically motivated “sham." James is a Democrat.
The ex-president and his sons are expected to testify at some point. In a surprise preview, the elder Trump ended up briefly on the witness stand Wednesday to answer Engoron's questions about an out-of-court comment.
Ivanka Trump's lawyer argued in court papers that it's unreasonable to make her take the stand. Noting that she's no longer a defendant or a New York resident, attorney Bennet Moskowitz said the attorney general’s office was trying “to impose a heavy, unnecessary and improper burden on Ms. Trump to fill apparent gaps” in the state’s case.
In a separate filing, Donald Trump’s defense accused the state of belatedly endeavoring “to needlessly haul Ms. Trump into a highly publicized trial for the obvious purpose of harassment of both Ms. Trump and her father.”
A state appeals court in June dismissed the claims against her as too old. Ivanka Trump announced in January 2017, ahead of her father's inauguration, that she was stepping away from her Trump Organization job. She soon became an unpaid senior adviser in the Trump White House.
State lawyers, however, maintain in court papers that Ivanka Trump “was a key participant” in many events discussed in the case and “remains financially and professionally intertwined” with the family business and its leaders.
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Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.
