Eric Trump Willing To Comply With NY Subpoena—But Not Until After Election

Eric Trump’s lawyers argued Eric Trump, who is executive vice president of the Trump Organization, “has been, and continues to be, willing to appear pursuant to subpoena” and provided four available dates for him to testify after the election, citing his “extreme travel schedule” and “related unavailability” until then, according to Thursday court filing.

They said it is “well known” that most or all law enforcement and regulatory agencies avoid “certain actions” within the 60-days leading up to a major election and said he would appear after the election “to avoid the use of his deposition attendance for political reasons.” 

New York Attorney General Letitia James opened a civil investigation into President Trump and the Trump Organization in March 2019, alleging that “Trump’s annual financial statements inflated the values of Trump’s assets to obtain favorable terms for loans and insurance coverage, while also deflating the value of other assets to reduce real estate taxes,” according to an August statement from James’ office. 

James filed a motion in August to compel testimony and documents in New York County State Supreme Court, including from Eric Trump, who she claimed was “intimately involved in one or more transactions under review, as well as the production of thousands of documents wrongly withheld.”

She alleged that Eric Trump was scheduled for an interview in July but refused to appear and said “for months, the Trump Organization has made baseless claims in an effort to shield evidence from a lawful investigation into its financial dealings.” 

Eric Trump’s lawyers pushed back in the filing Thursday, saying he was properly asserting his client-attorney privilege and argued he never implied he would not comply with the subpoena, but that the Attorney General’s office never responded to their request that it will not share documents or testimony obtained in the investigation with other law enforcement or regulatory agencies.