In an effort to challenge a judge’s order compelling her to testify in the case next week, Ivanka Trump asked a New York appeals court to put a halt to the $250 million fraud trial of her family and its business empire.
The move to put the trial on hold was made in response to a court filing on Thursday, which claimed that Ivanka Trump would suffer “undue hardship” if she had to testify, partly because her appearance was planned “in the middle of a school week.”
Attorney General of New York Letitia James urged the appeals court to deny that request, describing it as a move that “would upend an ongoing trial” and is “drastic” and baseless.
Ivanka Trump primarily requested a temporary stay of the order requiring her testimony while she files an appeal in her filing with the First Judicial Department of the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division.
Her lawyer announced on Wednesday that she is appealing “every single detail” of Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron’s decision to deny her request to not take the witness stand.
She is presently scheduled to start testifying on Wednesday of next week, after her father, the late President Donald Trump.
This week, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, her two adult brothers, gave testimony.
In James’ lawsuit, all three of Ivanka Trump’s relatives are listed as co-defendants, claiming that there was a ten-year plot to fabricate Donald Trump Sr.’s wealth in order to obtain favorable loan terms and tax advantages.
Ivanka Trump was initially named as a co-defendant as well, but a New York appeals court earlier this year removed her due to the statute of limitations.
According to James’ lawsuit, she worked for the Trump Organization as an executive vice president for development and acquisitions until early January 2017, at which point she joined her father’s White House staff as a senior advisor.
With the election of their father as president, Eric and Trump Jr. assumed control of the Trump Organization.
Ivanka’s lawyer contended in a filing to the appeals court on Thursday that the judge committed “multiple errors” in refusing to quash subpoenas for her testimony and that she is “beyond the jurisdiction” of Engoron’s court.
Bennett Moskowitz, the attorney, contended that Ivanka does not reside in New York and that the court does not have personal jurisdiction over her.
Furthermore, he contended that her subpoenas were served incorrectly. “If a stay is denied and Ms. Trump is forced to testify at a trial in New York during a school week in a case she has already been dismissed from, before her appeal is heard, she will suffer undue hardship,” Moskowitz wrote. Ms. Trump resides in Florida with her three minor children.
Later on Thursday, James retaliated, labeling the claims of lack of jurisdiction as “utterly meritless” in a court filing. Ivanka owns real estate in New York and “still transacts business in the state,” according to the attorney general.
James informed the appeals court that Ms. Trump’s arguments were founded on the fallacious theory that witnesses possessing pertinent firsthand knowledge could only be asked to testify if they were considered ‘a primary actor’ in the case.
James stated that Ivanka Trump “possesses firsthand knowledge of matters that are central to the ongoing trial.” “And delaying her testimony could potentially cause a delay in the equitable and well-organized conclusion of this trial, which has been going on for more than two weeks, and in which the OAG is almost finished with its main case.”
“Ms. Trump’s need to testify truthfully at trial for a single day is not in and of itself a serious harm that warrants emergency relief,” James continued.
