Ivanka Trump Denied: Appeals Court Rejects Former First Daughter's Efforts to Delay Fraud Trial Testimony
An appeals court rejected Ivanka Trump’s efforts to get out of testifying at her father’s ongoing civil fraud trial.
An appeals court rejected Ivanka Trump’s efforts to get out of testifying at her father’s ongoing civil fraud trial in New York, RadarOnline.com can report.
In the latest development to come after Judge Arthur Engoron ordered the former first daughter to testify in person in the $250 million fraud case brought against ex-President Donald Trump last year, an appeals court denied Ivanka’s motion for a stay on Thursday night.
Judge Arthur Engoron ordered the former first daughter to testify in person in a ruling handed down on Friday.
Ivanka’s legal team filed a motion for a stay with the New York Court of Appeals on Thursday afternoon.
They argued that the former first daughter would "suffer undue hardship" if forced to testify at her father's fraud trial.
“Ms. Trump, who resides in Florida with her three minor children, will suffer undue hardship if a stay is denied and she is required to testify at trial in New York in the middle of a school week, in a case she has already been dismissed from, before her appeal is heard,” Ivanka’s team wrote.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who filed the $250 million fraud lawsuit against ex-President Trump last year, responded to Ivanka’s motion for a stay shortly before the motion was rejected by the appeals court on Thursday night.
Ivanka said she would "suffer undue hardship" if forced to testify at her father's fraud trial.
James argued that Ivanka possesses “firsthand knowledge of issues that are central to the ongoing trial.” She also argued that a further delay in Ivanka’s testimony would “delay the fair and orderly resolution” of former President Trump’s ongoing trial.
“Ms. Trump’s arguments are based on the false premise that witnesses with relevant, firsthand knowledge may be called to testify only if they are ‘a primary actor’ in the case,” James wrote in a filing to the New York Court of Appeals.
“[Ivanka] has firsthand knowledge of issues that are central to the ongoing trial,” the attorney general continued. “And staying her testimony may well serve to delay the fair and orderly resolution of a trial that has now been proceeding for over almost a month, in which OAG is nearing completion of its case in chief.”
“Ms. Trump’s mere need to attend trial for a single day to testify truthfully is not itself a serious harm that warrants emergency relief,” James concluded.
“Ms. Trump’s mere need to attend trial for a single day to testify truthfully is not itself a serious harm that warrants emergency relief,” New York Attorney General Letitia James responded.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Ivanka was initially named a co-defendant in the $250 million fraud lawsuit brought against ex-President Trump, Don Jr. and Eric Trump, and several Trump Organization executives last year.
The former first daughter was then dismissed as a co-defendant in the case in June after the New York appeals court ruled that the allegations against Ivanka “fell outside the state’s statute of limitations.”
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Judge Engoron then ordered Ivanka to testify in the case in person during a ruling handed down on October 27.
“I want to see her in person,” Judge Engoron ruled. “That is how we prefer testimony.”
Ex-President Donald Trump slammed the judge's decision to make Ivanka testify.
Former President Trump rushed to Truth Social after the judge ordered Ivanka to testify in person. The ex-president called the fraud case against him “fake” and dubbed Judge Engoron “unhinged.”
“My daughter, Ivanka, was released from this Fake Letitia James case by the Court of Appeals, but this Trump Hating, Unhinged Judge, who ruled me guilty before this Witch Hunt Trial even started, couldn’t care less about the fact that he was overturned,” the embattled ex-president fumed on Saturday.
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