Former President Trump on Monday appealed a New York judge’s order that he comply with the state attorney general’s subpoena for his testimony as part of a wide-ranging civil investigation into his business practices.
Trump’s lawyers filed a notice that they were seeking a review from the state appellate court after Judge Arthur Engoron earlier this month ordered the former president and his two eldest children to sit for a deposition with the attorney general’s office.
Engoron’s ruling this month rejected Trump’s effort to quash the subpoenas and prevent New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) from moving forward with her probe.
“In the final analysis, a State Attorney General commences investigating a business entity, uncovers copious evidence of possible financial fraud, and wants to question, under oath, several of the entities’ principals, including its namesake. She has the clear right to do so,” Engoron wrote in the decision.
James’s office did not immediately respond when asked for comment on the appeal.
Trump’s attorneys also did not immediately offer comment, but they attacked Engoron’s ruling earlier this month. Alina Habba, one of the former president’s lawyers in the case, said in an emailed statement at the time that the ruling “confirmed what we’ve already known for some time — Donald J. Trump cannot get a fair ruling in the State of New York.”
“The abhorrent statements made by Letitia leave no doubt that this is yet another politically motivated witch-hunt,” Habba said. “It is disappointing that the Judge overlooked her egregious prosecutorial misconduct and has allowed her investigation — which blatantly violates the US Constitution — to continue undeterred. The court clearly had its mind made up and had no interest in engaging in impartial discourse on this critically important issue.”
Trump has repeatedly attacked the investigation as a politically motivated witch hunt on social media and in the courts, even filing a federal lawsuit asking for an injunction against the probe.
James has stood by her office’s efforts and revealed that it has uncovered evidence that the Trump Organization has been falsifying the value of its various assets for financial gain.
“Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., and Ivanka Trump were ordered by the court to comply with our lawful investigation into Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization’s financial dealings,” she said in a statement on Monday. “While they have the right to seek a delay, they cannot deter us from following the facts and the law wherever they may lead. Make no mistake: My office will continue to pursue this case without fear or favor because no one is above the law.”
The New York appellate court has not yet scheduled briefings for Trump’s appeal or ruled on whether to delay Engoron’s ruling from taking effect.
Updated at 6:15 p.m.