NEW YORK (VINnews) — Ivanka Trump has been denied her request from an appeals court that she not be required to testify in person testifying at her father’s fraud trial.
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The court did not agree with Ivanka’s lawyers’ motion, based on the belief that testifying would be an “undue hardship.”
Judge Arthur Engoron — who is presiding over the former President’s trial — ruled that the former First Daughter must testify in person. Ivanka’s testimony was originally set for last week, but was moved to Wednesday, while former co-First Sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. took the stand last week.
The lawsuit, filed last year by New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office, accuses the Trump family business of falsely inflating and deflating the value of assets.
Ivanka was dismissed from the case, after a New York appeals court ruled that the claims against her were barred by the state’s statute of limitations.
During last week’s hearing, Ms. Trump’s attorney argued that compelling her to testify is outside of James’s jurisdiction and suggested that the attorney general’s office is attempting to “force her back into this case.”
“Ms. Trump is not a party in this action. Nor is Ms. Trump a New York resident,” her lawyers wrote in court filings. “It is black-letter law that, given those two facts, Ms. Trump is beyond the jurisdiction of this Court.”
Engoron disagreed, finding that Ivanka has “clearly availed herself of the privilege of doing business in New York.”
AG James countered Ivanka’s appeal in a filing:
“Ms. Trump’s arguments are based on the false premise that witnesses with relevant, firsthand knowledge may be called to testify only if they are ‘a primary actor’ in the case,” James told the appeals court.
Ivanka Trump “has firsthand knowledge of issues that are central to the ongoing trial,” James wrote. “And staying her testimony may well serve to delay the fair and orderly resolution of a trial that has now been proceeding for over almost a month, in which OAG is nearing completion of its case in chief.”
James added: “Ms. Trump’s mere need to attend trial for a single day to testify truthfully is not itself a serious harm that warrants emergency relief.”
This trial is a fraud.
That’s right NJ and NY, keep voting democrat.
Ivanka should stonewall & not testify. Arthur Engoron ימח שמו וזכרונו is nothing short of a filthy wicked hater of President Donald Trump שליט”א simply indulging in election interference of the absolute highest order.