We all knew that despite being directly ordered to comply with the subpoenas issued to them by New York Attorney General Letitia James, in connection to her investigation into the family business, the Trump Organization, ex-President Donald Trump and his two eldest children, Don Jr. and Ivanka, simply weren’t going to act in accordance. At least not without putting up what would likely end up being several pathetic fights to save their own behinds.
However, this newest development is a bit more than we even expected.
According to new reporting from CNN, the disgraced ex-president and his two oldest children have now officially filed an appeal against Attorney General James’ unrelenting attempts to officially depose all three of the Trumps in connection to her office’s civil investigation into the Trump Organization, ultimately claiming that a lower court was in error when it denied the Trumps’ requests that James’ subpoenas against them be quashed.
CNN reports:
In their appeal filed Monday, Trump and his children Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. argued that if New York Attorney General Letitia James wants their testimony, she should bring them before a state grand jury investigating the Trump Organization, where witnesses receive transactional immunity for their testimony in New York.”
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
“Transactional immunity” is the equivalent of the more common term, “blanket” or total” immunity, which would completely protect a witness from any future prosecutions for crimes that related to his or her testimony.
In their appeals, the Trumps’ attorneys wrote that should the New York Attorney General be allowed to depose the ex-president and his children, “the state’s constitutional and statutory protections can easily be “eviscerated if the same agency involved in the criminal investigation simply opens up a ‘civil’ investigation into the very same matters.”
“The question is whether the (Office of the Attorney General) can use the office subpoenas to avoid the grand jury process and compel testimony from those whom it does not wish to grant immunity,” the appeal reads.
Trump’s request was already ruled against by a state judge back in February, who stated that the former POTUS and his children were fully capable of invoking their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, which would allow them to refuse to answer questions. Eric Trump took full advantage of this Constitutional right during his 2020 deposition in the case, reportedly pleading the 5th more than 500 times during his testimony. However, lawyers for the family have argued that invoking this Constitutional right would open the opportunity for the jury to draw an “adverse inference.”
Recently, New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron officially ordered Trump and his kids to sit for depositions in the case by no later than March 10, but the Trumps were able to reach a deal to further postpone their testimonies until after their appeal has been decided on.
Back at the beginning of this year, James went public with her office’s bombshell discovery of significant evidence that the Trump Organization used “fraudulent or misleading asset valuations to obtain a host of economic benefits, including loans, insurance coverage, and tax deductions” and that financial statements had numerous “misleading statements and omissions.”
Shortly after the Trumps’ appeal was filed, James released a statement reminding the family once again that she will not back down.
“Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., and Ivanka Trump were ordered by a judge to comply with our investigation into Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization’s financial dealings,” James said. “Despite continuous efforts to impede this investigation, no one can stop our pursuit of justice, no matter how powerful they are.”
Read the full report from CNN here.
Featured image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore, under Creative Commons license 2.0
