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Then-U.S. President Donald Trump--flanked by his eldest two children, Don Jr. and Ivanka Trump--prepared to board Air Force One at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia on January 4, 2021. (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
Trumps Agree to Be Questioned Under Oath Unless NY Court Intervenes
The pending depositions relate to the state attorney general's civil probe of the family business.
Jun 08, 2022
Former President Donald Trump and his two eldest children, Donald Jr. and Ivanka Trump, have agreed to be questioned under oath next month by lawyers with New York Attorney General Letitia James' office unless the state's highest court intervenes, a filing revealed Wednesday.
The deal to begin the questioning on July 15 comes after a New York appeals court last month upheld a lower court's ruling that the trio must sit for depositions as part of James' civil investigation into the Trump Organization's business practices.
Trump attorney Alina Habba "said soon after that ruling that she would appeal the matter to the Court of Appeals," The New York Times reported, noting that it's not clear if the state's top court "will agree to hear the case, but if it does, the three Trump family members may still have a hope of avoiding the interviews."
The Associated Press noted Wednesday that "the former president had plenty of experience with such questioning during his business career, and he gave a deposition just this past October in a lawsuit filed by protesters who said his security team roughed them up during his first presidential campaign."
His other adult son, Eric Trump, was deposed for the New York probe in 2020 and invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 500 times in six hours to avoid answering questions.
Separate from the deposition deal on Wednesday, a New York state judge--who previously held the ex-president in civil contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena related to James' investigation--ordered Trump to provide her office with additional information.
"Leaving the contempt order in place is the simplest, most effective way to get the job done," said Judge Arthur Engoron, according to CNN--which noted that Trump now has "until June 17 to submit affidavits from the Trump Organization's accounting, marketing, hotel, golf, and legal departments explaining the units' document destruction and retention policies."
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Former President Donald Trump and his two eldest children, Donald Jr. and Ivanka Trump, have agreed to be questioned under oath next month by lawyers with New York Attorney General Letitia James' office unless the state's highest court intervenes, a filing revealed Wednesday.
The deal to begin the questioning on July 15 comes after a New York appeals court last month upheld a lower court's ruling that the trio must sit for depositions as part of James' civil investigation into the Trump Organization's business practices.
Trump attorney Alina Habba "said soon after that ruling that she would appeal the matter to the Court of Appeals," The New York Times reported, noting that it's not clear if the state's top court "will agree to hear the case, but if it does, the three Trump family members may still have a hope of avoiding the interviews."
The Associated Press noted Wednesday that "the former president had plenty of experience with such questioning during his business career, and he gave a deposition just this past October in a lawsuit filed by protesters who said his security team roughed them up during his first presidential campaign."
His other adult son, Eric Trump, was deposed for the New York probe in 2020 and invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 500 times in six hours to avoid answering questions.
Separate from the deposition deal on Wednesday, a New York state judge--who previously held the ex-president in civil contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena related to James' investigation--ordered Trump to provide her office with additional information.
"Leaving the contempt order in place is the simplest, most effective way to get the job done," said Judge Arthur Engoron, according to CNN--which noted that Trump now has "until June 17 to submit affidavits from the Trump Organization's accounting, marketing, hotel, golf, and legal departments explaining the units' document destruction and retention policies."
Former President Donald Trump and his two eldest children, Donald Jr. and Ivanka Trump, have agreed to be questioned under oath next month by lawyers with New York Attorney General Letitia James' office unless the state's highest court intervenes, a filing revealed Wednesday.
The deal to begin the questioning on July 15 comes after a New York appeals court last month upheld a lower court's ruling that the trio must sit for depositions as part of James' civil investigation into the Trump Organization's business practices.
Trump attorney Alina Habba "said soon after that ruling that she would appeal the matter to the Court of Appeals," The New York Times reported, noting that it's not clear if the state's top court "will agree to hear the case, but if it does, the three Trump family members may still have a hope of avoiding the interviews."
The Associated Press noted Wednesday that "the former president had plenty of experience with such questioning during his business career, and he gave a deposition just this past October in a lawsuit filed by protesters who said his security team roughed them up during his first presidential campaign."
His other adult son, Eric Trump, was deposed for the New York probe in 2020 and invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 500 times in six hours to avoid answering questions.
Separate from the deposition deal on Wednesday, a New York state judge--who previously held the ex-president in civil contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena related to James' investigation--ordered Trump to provide her office with additional information.
"Leaving the contempt order in place is the simplest, most effective way to get the job done," said Judge Arthur Engoron, according to CNN--which noted that Trump now has "until June 17 to submit affidavits from the Trump Organization's accounting, marketing, hotel, golf, and legal departments explaining the units' document destruction and retention policies."
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