New York Attorney General Letitia James has subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump as part of an inquiry into the Trump family business. Their father, Donald Trump, has called James’ investigation politically motivated.
The subpoenas for the two Trump siblings were served at the beginning of December, the New York Times reported on Monday. According to a court document cited by multiple media outlets, lawyers for the pair will file motions to quash the legal writs.
Former President Donald Trump was also subpoenaed in December, and responded by suing James. Trump claims that James’ two-year investigation has violated his civil rights, with his lawyers describing the probe as “partisan,” and “a bitter crusade” by James to “punish her political opponents.”
Trump’s suit claims that James’ investigation essentially boils down to a “baseless” fishing expedition, with the former president’s lawyers citing public tweets by James promising legal action against Trump as evidence.
“You & your cronies aren’t above the law,” she tweeted to former Trump lawyer MIchael Cohen in 2018. “Every day we’re getting closer to justice. Just wait until I’m in the Attorney General’s office.”
James became New York’s top prosecutor later that year, having made investigating Trump a key campaign promise. With elections coming up this November, James briefly explored a run for governor of the Empire State, but dropped out of contention last month to focus her efforts on prosecuting the former president.
James’ investigation is a civil one, and focuses on whether Trump inflated the value of the Trump Organization’s assets to obtain loans, and devalued them elsewhere to obtain tax breaks.
A separate criminal investigation led by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance is also probing whether Trump lied about the value of his assets to banks and tax authorities. Though Vance’s term as Manhattan DA ran out on January 1, his office, now under the leadership of Alvin Bragg, will continue the investigation. Last month, Vance also subpoenaed Trump to provide evidence, though Trump has yet to comply with the order.
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