Former President Donald Trump and two of his children were issued subpoenas by New York Attorney General Letitia James as part of a civil investigation into the family’s business, according to a court filing that was unsealed on Monday.
The Democrat Attorney General’s office said in court papers Monday that it is seeking documents and testimony from Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Donald Trump Jr. “in connection with an investigation into the valuation of properties owned or controlled” by the former president as well as his company, the Trump Organization.
Previously, James’s office issued a subpoena to Trump seeking testimony and set a Jan. 7 deadline. His lawyers said they would move to block the subpoena, while another one of his children, Eric Trump, provided testimony in late 2020 following a subpoena.
Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., considered longtime business associates of their father, are expected to file motions to block the subpoenas, James’s office said in the court filing in Manhattan. James noted that former President Trump is fighting an earlier subpoena that was issued by her office.
According to the filing, her office “will oppose any motion to quash” an attempt at relief “within 14 days of the filing of the motion,” and James will “file any cross motion to enforce the subpoenas” to the individual Trump family members.
Those subpoenas, meanwhile, “would allow investigators or any matter which the Attorney General deems pertinent,” the court filing said.
Judge Arthur Engoron signed off on James’s proposed schedule, which stipulates deadlines for when lawyers for the three Trump family members can file motions. Lawyers for the Trumps also agreed to the schedule, according to the filing.
James previously said her office is investigating whether or not the Trump Organization inflated the values of its real estate holdings to obtain bank loans, and reduced the values to save on taxes. Her probe is related to, but separate from, a criminal investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office into the Trump Organization’s business practices. James joined the district attorney’s investigation last May.
The former president has long held that James’s and Manhattan District Attorney’s investigations are part of a witch hunt to wound him politically.
Trump last month sued James in a federal court in Albany, New York’s capital, in a bid to block her investigation. The former commander-in-chief argued that her investigation is contaminated by political bias.
“Her mission is guided solely by political animus and a desire to harass, intimidate, and retaliate against a private citizen who she views as a political opponent,” Trump’s lawyers said in the suit, which was filed on behalf of the Trump Organization and Trump. They also cited numerous statements she’s made in public about Trump, including her support for so-called “die-in” protests against him as well as her public boast that her office sued his administration 76 times.
James had announced she would enter the New York governor race earlier this year, but last month, she suspended that campaign and instead would seek reelection as attorney general for the state.
The Epoch Times has contacted representatives for the Trump Organization for comment.
From The Epoch Times
