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President Donald Trump speaks with his daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump during a press conference at the White House on March 20, 2020 in Washington.
(CNN) – The New York judge overseeing Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial on Friday denied a motion to bar Ivanka Trump from testifying.
Lawyers for Ivanka Trump have filed a motion to quash a subpoena for her testimony, arguing she should not be compelled after an appeals court removed her as a defendant in the case.
But Judge Arthur Engoron denied that motion after hearing arguments on the matter Friday, though he said he should not schedule his testimony before Wednesday to appeal his ruling.
“Ms. Trump clearly took advantage of the privilege of doing business in New York,” Engoron said.
The judge also said Ivanka should have submitted an affidavit certifying that she does not currently live or work in the state. “She is the only one who can tell us that and it’s too late to do that now,” Nkoron said.
Engron also quickly denied a request by Donald Trump’s lawyer Chris Kiss for a deposition from Ivanka Trump taken in Florida. “We want her here in person,” Engoron said, noting that he wants to hear the testimony live in court.
Attorneys for Donald and Ivanka Trump have argued that Ivanka Trump has not lived or worked in New York since 2017, so the court has no jurisdiction over her, accusing Attorney General Letitia James of seeking her testimony to create a media spectacle.
“President Trump’s continuing harassment of children,” Kiss said.
“They want a free-for-all for one of President Trump’s children,” Kiss said. “They want her in the courtroom so it can be filled with media and we can have another circus day.”
Another Trump lawyer, Cliff Robert, said Eric Trump is willing to be the Trump Organization’s corporate representative because he’s going to testify at trial anyway.
A lawyer for the Attorney General’s Office, Kevin Wallace, argued that Ivanka Trump is still tied to the Trump Organization and has personal knowledge of the loan for the Old Post Office project in Washington, DC.
The attorney general’s complaint alleges that Ivanka Trump is responsible for fraud on a Deutsche Bank loan granted to Trump and his company for an old post office project.
“He ran that program, not Eric Trump,” Wallace said.
Ivanka Trump was listed as a co-defendant in a $250 million lawsuit filed last September by James, along with Donald Trump, Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and several other Trump Organization executives, alleging a massive fraud. The scheme, which lasted more than a decade, was used by the former president and his eldest children to enrich themselves.
However, in June, a New York Court of Appeals Ivanka rejected Trump As a co-defendant, Ivanka found that the claims against Trump are too old because she was not part of the August 2021 agreement between James’ office and the Trump Organization to toll the statute of limitations.
Ivanka Trump has still been identified by the New York Attorney General’s Office as a potential witness they could call in the case.
This story has been updated with additional updates.
