Former President and his two eldest children are set to testify under oath next month in the New York attorney general’s civil investigation into their family business practices.
The ex-president, his daughter Ivanka Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr will testify starting on July 15, according to a court order and stipulation filed on Wednesday. The parties will be given until the end of the next week to finish depositions.
Each family member will testify separately.
The Trumps will sit for depositions unless New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, issues a stay on the judge’s ruling. The Trumps have until Monday to file for a stay.
Late last month, an appellate court ruled that the three Trump family members must testify in the case. On June 1, the ex-president filed an appeal.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has said that her office has ‘significant evidence’ of fraud in its probe into the Trump Organization misstating property valuations to obtain tax breaks and more favorable loans.
James’ office has said in court filings that it has ‘uncovered substantial evidence establishing numerous misrepresentations in Mr Trump’s financial statements provided to banks, insurers, and the Internal Revenue Service’.
Her office is expected to question Trump about the financial statements. Investigators are also planning to ask Ivanka, who formerly worked for the Trump Organization, and Trump Jr, currently its executive vice president, about the company’s financial workings.
The stipulation was filed as James’ office accused the ex-president of putting its investigators through a ‘wild goose chase’ in the discovery process of the case.
‘I am both frustrated and perplexed by the fact that we are where we are,’ said Andrew Amer of James’ office during a hearing on Wednesday.
‘The Trump Organization is a large and sophisticated real estate firm that is no stranger to litigation. I just don’t understand why it has been so difficult to get basic information.’
President Trump has repeatedly denied engaging in any wrongdoing, and called James’ probe a ‘witch hunt’. Lawyers for him and his children did not immediately comment on the latest development.
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