Ivanka Trump’s testimony in her father’s $250 million civil fraud trial is postponed and scheduled to take place after Donald Trump appears on the witness stand, a New York state judge ruled on Monday.
The trial stems from a lawsuit New York Attorney General Letitia James filed last year, alleging that Trump and top executives at The Trump Organization conspired to increase his net worth by billions of dollars on financial statements provided to banks and insurers to make deals and secure loans. Trump, who is campaigning for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and is the current frontrunner, has denied any wrongdoing and has called the trial politically motivated. Ivanka Trump, former executive vice president at The Trump Organization, was initially named as a defendant in the fraud case before an appeals court ruled to dismiss her from the lawsuit because the claims against her were outside the statute of limitations. However, last Friday, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that she must testify in person.
While the former president and his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump along with Ivanka were all set to testify starting later this week, with Ivanka slated to testify on November 3, Engoron ruled on Monday Ivanka is now scheduled to take the witness stand on November 8.
“Ivanka Trump will no longer testify this Friday in the New York Attorney General’s civil fraud suit against her dad and brothers. Instead, we’ll see her 11/8 and potentially 11/9 too,” MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
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However, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are still expected to testify beginning Wednesday.
“And my own prediction is that their testimony takes us through week’s end, to be followed Monday by the boss,” Rubin added.
This comes after Engoron rejected Ivanka Trump’s bid to quash a subpoena forcing her testimony and sided with the attorney general on the issue last Friday, while giving Ivanka Trump’s attorneys at least until Wednesday to appeal the ruling.
Meanwhile, since learning that Ivanka Trump must testify, many have weighed in on what her testimony could mean for the former president’s case.
Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, a legal analyst for NBC and MSNBC and frequent Trump critic, suggested that things are “about to go from bad to worse” for the former president when he and his three children testify in the civil trial.
“Do you really think Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka are going to be able to withstand the rigors of examination and cross-examination? They are hostile witnesses, they will be cross-examined by New York Attorney General Letitia James’ team,” he said during his online show Justice Matters on Sunday.
While legal analyst and former U.S. attorney for the northern district of Alabama, Joyce Vance noted on her Civil Discourse blog on Substack Sunday that Trump appears to be “especially spun up” about Ivanka Trump’s upcoming testimony.
“Trump is especially spun up about Ivanka testifying, saying it was unfair of the Judge to force her to testify, since she’s been dismissed as a defendant in the case,” Vance wrote. “In Ivanka’s case, she’s a fact witness who was around for many of the transactions and meetings that are called into question in the Attorney General’s $250 million lawsuit,” the former prosecutor continued. “Who better to testify than someone with first hand knowledge?”
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