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US President-elect Donald Trump along with his children Eric, Ivanka, and Donald Jr. arrive for a press conference January 11, 2017 at Trump Tower in New York. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka Trump failed to convince the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, First Department, that she was entitled to halt her scheduled Nov. 8 testimony at her father’s civil fraud trial — and the appellate justice who issued the denial Thursday did so without offering an explanation.
Ivanka Trump and her lawyer Bennet J. Moskowitz first mounted their efforts to stave off testimony on Oct. 19, with a motion to quash accusing New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) of improperly and defectively attempting to compel her, no longer a defendant in the case, to testify by subpoenaing the corporate entities TTT Consulting LLC, Ivanka OPO LLC, and 502 Park Project LLC.
On Oct. 26, James responded by saying that there were “sufficient, ample bases” to compel Ivanka Trump’s testimony, highlighting her still-active financial and professional ties to the Trump Organization.
“Ms. Trump was served properly at the New York addresses and actual place of business of multiple entities that are under her control; she should be compelled to testify in this proceeding. While no longer a Defendant in this action, she indisputably has personal knowledge of facts relevant to the claims against the remaining individual and entity Defendants,” James’ motion in opposition said. “But even beyond that, Ms. Trump remains financially and professionally intertwined with the Trump Organization and other Defendants and can be called as a person still under their control.”
The next morning, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, the trial judge, heard arguments from both sides and concluded that Ivanka Trump did, in fact, have to testify. At the same time, the judge pushed back the testimony date to Nov. 8 to give Ivanka Trump time to appeal.
As recently as Wednesday, Ivanka Trump filed her notice of appeal, seeking to raise various issues.
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Ivanka Trump further applied for a stay of Engoron’s ruling pending the outcome of her appeal, which she asserted was “likely to succeed on the merits.”
Specifically, the appellant argued that the absence of a stay would cause her to “suffer undue hardship and irreparable harm.”
On Thursday, the application for the stay was flatly denied.
“Application for interim stay pending decision on the motion is denied,” the appellate justice wrote, appearing to initial “MJM.”
There is only one justice in the First Department of the Appellate Division with those initials, and that is Associate Justice Manuel J. Mendez, who was appointed by former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) in 2020.
