New York attorney general Letitia James issued subpoenas to two of former President Trump’s children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., as part of a civil investigation into the former president’s business practices, according to court documents filed in New York Monday.
The filing by James’ office said it recently issued the subpoenas of Trump’s children for testimony and documents “in connection with an investigation into the valuation of properties owned or controlled by Donald J. Trump or the Trump Organization, or any matter which the Attorney General deems pertinent thereto.”
Although the filing doesn’t indicate when James subpoenaed the two Trump adult children, the New York Times reported that the subpoenas were served on Dec. 1, citing a person with knowledge of the matter.
Trump’s children can now make a motion to quash the subpoenas. The New York attorney general’s office stated in the filing that it would oppose any such motion and will file “any necessary amendments to the pleadings.”
The filing comes after James requested a deposition from the former president last month as part of its ongoing civil investigation into potential financial fraud at the Trump Organization — which faces a criminal probe on a similar topic from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, with help from James’ office.
Weeks after James’ request last month for Trump to sit for a deposition, the former president sued James in an attempt to stonewall her office’s civil investigation.
Eric Trump, Trump’s other adult son, was also questioned under oath by James’ office in October 2020 in connection to its civil investigation. James’ legal filing on Monday was signed by the same Manhattan Supreme Court judge who presided over an earlier court action by her office that forced Eric Trump to submit to questioning and the Trump Organization to turn over records.
James’ latest subpoena of Trump’s adult children signals an escalation of her probe into the former president’s business practices that her office has been conducting for almost three years.
All of Trump’s adult children — Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump — have a long history of involvement with the Trump Organization. When the former president took office in 2017, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump took the reins of the business alongside longtime chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg. Ivanka Trump joined her husband, Jared Kushner, in serving as an unpaid adviser to the former president in the White House.
Last month, James announced that was suspending her less-than-six-week-old gubernatorial campaign against Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and running for reelection as state attorney general, following reports that her office was seeking testimony from the former president.
