NEW YORK NOW- Eric Trump, the middle son of President Donald Trump, will have to appear for a deposition before the New York Attorney General’s Office sometime in the next two weeks, a state judge ruled Wednesday.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office would move forward with the deposition sometime in the next two weeks.
“To be clear, no entity or individual is allowed to dictate how or when our investigation will proceed or set the parameters of a lawful investigation,” James said.
The New York Attorney General’s Office sought to compel the younger Trump to testify in its investigation into the elder Trump’s financial dealings, but he had resisted the request.
Credit: Gov. Cuomo's Office
Attorneys for Eric Trump, who was closely involved in the financial dealings under review by the Attorney General’s Office, had asked the judge to delay the deposition for several months — meaning it wouldn’t happen until after this year’s elections.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron sided with the Attorney General’s Office during a hearing Wednesday, saying Trump would have to be deposed by October 7.
That means that any pertinent details obtained through the deposition could become public in a matter of weeks through court filings — it’s not uncommon for attorneys to quote from depositions in filings after the interview.
Engoron also granted a request from the Attorney General’s Office to compel the Trump Organization to hand over documents sought as part of its investigation.
The New York Attorney General’s Office is currently investigating a handful of financial dealings involving President Trump, who was accused last year by Michael Cohen, his former personal attorney, of misrepresenting the value of his assets to financial institutions.
Trump did so, according to Cohen, to obtain financing from those institutions. Democrats in Congress also have an ongoing probe into Cohen’s claims.
Representatives for the Trump Organization were not immediately available for comment Wednesday.