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Ivanka Trump will likely be forced to testify in the ongoing fraud trial against her father, a former federal prosecutor has said.
Ivanka has been fighting hard to keep herself out of former President Donald Trump's New York fraud trial but will likely be forced to testify as a "fact witness," according to Joyce Vance, a legal analyst and former federal prosecutor.
Ivanka has been by her father's side her entire adult life and was previously executive vice president of the Trump Organization and a senior adviser in her father's White House. There are few people with her knowledge of Donald Trump's business affairs and he is keen that she does not testify.
On Thursday, Ivanka's legal team asked Arthur Engoron, the judge in the fraud case, to quash a subpoena that would have compelled her to give evidence.
Ivanka was originally named as a defendant in New York attorney general Letitia James' lawsuit, which accuses Donald Trump, his children and the Trump Organization of fraudulently inflating the value of their assets on financial documents to obtain more favorable business deals and thereby increase the former president's net worth.
An appeals court dismissed Ivanka from the case in June and said the claims against her were barred by the statute of limitations. Her lawyers argue that Ivanka is no longer a defendant in the case and should therefore not have to give deposition testimony.
A deposition is a witness' sworn out-of-court testimony. It is used to gather information as part of the discovery process and, in some cases, may be used at trial.
"Trial subpoenas are not a means for parties to get discovery, which they failed to obtain during pretrial proceedings," Ivanka's attorney argued in their legal submission. "The New York Attorney General, which never deposed Ms. Trump, is effectively trying to force her back into this case from which she was dismissed by a unanimous decision of the Appellate Division, First Department."
"Ms. Trump is not a party in this action. Nor is Ms. Trump a New York resident. It is black-letter law that, given those two facts, Ms. Trump is beyond the jurisdiction of this Court," they stated.
However, writing on her Civil Discourse blog on the Substack writing website, Vance said that Ivanka Trump can still be called as a witness even though she is no longer a defendant.
"There has been testimony at trial about the valuation of Ivanka Trump's penthouse in her father's Trump Park Avenue property. No longer a defendant, she is nonetheless a fact witness in this regard, and it seems likely she'll be ordered to testify," Vance wrote.
"The [New York] Attorney General says that although Ms. Trump has denied it, she benefitted from 'insider' pricing—she had an option to buy the penthouse for $8.5 million, but the Trump Organization's financial statements valued the unit at $20,820,000. Since this type of price manipulation falls within the core allegations in the lawsuit, James should be permitted to call [Ivanka] Trump, pre-trial deposition or no." Vance wrote.
"Ivanka Trump may well have to choose between Daddy and perjury, which is why she's fighting the subpoena," she added.
Newsweek has sought email comment from attorneys representing Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump.
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About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more