NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Donald Trump and two of his adult children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, have agreed to testify starting July 15 in a New York state civil investigation into the former U.S. president’s business practices.
The Trumps’ testimony could last through the following week, according to an agreement with state Attorney General Letitia James made public on Wednesday. James is investigating whether the Trump Organization misled lenders and tax authorities.
The deal for the Trumps to testify came more than six months after James first issued subpoenas for their testimony, which the Trumps fought bitterly in court. Last month, an intermediate state appeals court denied the Trumps’ bid to avoid testimony in James’ probe.
Trump, 75, and his son and daughter, both in their 40s, had argued that testifying in the civil probe would violate their constitutional rights because their words could be used in a related criminal investigation led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Separately, a New York state judge ruled in a virtual hearing on Wednesday that Trump must send James affidavits from several Trump Organization executives about their policies for retaining or destroying records.
But the judge, Arthur Engoron, said he would not yet fully purge a contempt order he issued against Trump in April for failing to comply with a subpoena from the state attorney general. Trump had said he had no documents that were relevant to the probe, a claim Engoron said he found “surprising.”
Engoron rejected a suggestion by Trump lawyer Alina Habba that he might have ruled differently had someone other than Trump been involved. “I try to take myself out of the equation,” the judge said.
