Judge REJECTS Ivanka Trump’s bid to postpone testimony in $250million fraud trial after she claimed taking the stand in the ‘middle of the school week’ would cause ‘undue hardship’
- Her team argued it would be an “undue hardship” if she were forced to testify
- The former president’s daughter will testify in a fraud trial on Wednesday
- Former President Trump will appear on Monday
A New York judge has rejected Ivanka Trump’s legal maneuver to prevent her from taking a stand in her father’s fraud trial next week as she appeals an order to testify in the case.
She had argued that testifying would cause her “undue hardship” — noting that the scheduled testimony next week falls in the middle of a school week. She and husband Jared Kushner are parents of three children.
Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing the case, had already ordered Ivanka to testify in the case, while her lawyers have asked an appeals court to overturn the decision.
But he refused a motion from her legal team to stay his decision while she appeals it to a higher court.
The latest legal wrangling took place Thursday evening, at the end of a day of Trump’s son and Trump Organization directorships Erik Trump took the stand and repeatedly testified that he knew nothing about financial statements about the value of corporate assets in his golf and real estate empire.
The company’s ability to continue doing business in New York state is at stake as New York AG Letitia James demands a $250 million fine after a judge already issued a finding of fraud.
Ivanka Trump is appealing an order forcing her to testify in her father’s civil case. Her team claims she moved to Florida and left her role in the Trump Organization
The former president, who has repeatedly attacked the judge and James, will take the stand for his own blockbuster testimony on Monday. His daughter, who helped manage real estate projects including the former Trump hotel in Washington, D.C., was expected to take the stand on Wednesday.
Ivanka Trump joined her father as a White House adviser during his time in office, while her brothers Don Jr. and Eric worked as executives to run their father’s business.
Her team was able to argue that she deserves to be left out of the legal drama. She and husband Jared Kushner left New York for Florida, and they say she has not returned to the company.
Her lawyers invoke her role as a mother to try to avoid the stand.
‘Mrs. Trump, who lives in Florida with her three minor children, will suffer undue hardship if she is denied residency and has to testify at the New York trial in the middle of a school week, in a case for which she has already been dismissed. before her appeal is heard,” her attorney wrote in the appeal seeking to block the order to testify.
But Judge Arthur Engoron has pointed to documents that still point to ownership and management ties to justify her participation in the case.
The legal wrangling comes during a week in which Ivanka’s brother Donald Trump Jr. testified
Eric Trump will be grilled in the stands for the second day in a row on Friday
Judge Arthur Engoron denied issuing a stay on an order that Ivanka testify even as she plans to appeal
Former President Trump has criticized the judge who imposed a $10,000 fine because his comments violated a silence order
‘Mrs. Trump has clearly taken advantage of the privilege of doing business in New York,” Engoron said.
The former president is outraged by the proceedings, even as he chose to attend hearings in person while shooting his perceived enemies from the courthouse.
‘Leave my children alone, Engoron. You are a disgrace to the legal profession!’ he told the judge, who had imposed a silence order and fined him earlier in the case after an attack on his chief legal clerk.