The entire Trump family, or almost all, will have to explain themselves to the judge. Donald Trump will be called to the stand on November 6 at his civil trial in New York, where he is being prosecuted for fraud, prosecutor Letitia James said on Friday. Also being prosecuted for their role at the Trump Organization, his two sons, Don Jr and Eric, will testify next Wednesday and Thursday. The ex-president’s daughter, Ivanka, who is not being prosecuted, will have to testify on Friday, judge Engoron ruled, but she can still appeal this decision.
While a defendant can refuse to testify in criminal cases, this is not the case in civil cases. In theory, Donald Trump could try to invoke his right not to incriminate himself via the 5th Amendment (“plead the fifth”), but the judge would risk increasing the financial penalties incurred.
Ivanka Trump distances herself from the family empire
Initially targeted by the complaint by the Attorney General of the State of New York, Letitia James, along with Donald Trump and two other of his sons, Eric and Donald Jr, Ivanka Trump finally escaped civil prosecution, after a decision to ‘a court of appeal.
The public prosecutor’s office still wants to hear her testimony, which the defense contested at the trial, arguing that she was no longer domiciled in New York and accusing the prosecutors of wanting to create “a media event”.
Judge Arthur Engoron ruled in favor of the prosecution, indicating that the testimony would not take place before November 1, to give Ivanka Trump the opportunity to appeal.
Ivanka Trump announced in January 2017 that she was leaving her position at the Trump Organization, at the time when she had become, like her husband Jared Kushner, advisor to her father Donald Trump at the White House.
“Not credible witness”
In this case, the Attorney General of the State of New York accuses Donald Trump, 77, two of his children and two executives of the Trump Organization of having overvalued his golf courses, residences and skyscrapers by several billion dollars new -yorks in the 2010s to obtain more advantageous bank loans. Accusations firmly denied by Donald Trump.
We got our first glimpse of Donald Trump on the stand this week, when the judge ordered him to explain an apparent attack on his clerk in front of reporters. Donald Trump assured that he was talking about the witness Michael Cohen, his enemy jury, without convincing the magistrate: “The witness is not credible”, concluded the judge, imposing a new fine of 10,000 dollars on Donald Trump, after a first of 5,000 dollars a few days earlier, for having violated his “gag order” preventing him from publicly criticizing court employees.