A Friday sworn hearing of former US President Donald Trump in the New York civil investigation into suspected financial fraud at the Trump Organization was postponed after the death of his first wife, a court source said on Friday.
• Also read: Ivana Trump, Donald Trump’s first wife, has died
“Following the death of Ivana Trump yesterday (Thursday), we received an adjournment motion for all three testimonies from attorney for Donald Trump and his children, which we have granted,” New York State Attorney General Letitia James said , without giving a date that “statements will be postponed as soon as possible”.
“We offer our condolences to the Trump family,” added the message, which was sent to AFP.
After a lengthy legal battle with prosecutor Letitia James, who made the filing one of her priorities, the Republican billionaire and two of his children, who have responsibilities within the group, Donald Jr became New York’s Supreme Court.
Donald Jr. and Ivanka, with Eric, are the three children of Ivana Trump, who died with Donald Trump on Thursday at the age of 73.
The hearing of the ex-president, who is openly flirting with a new presidential candidacy from 2024, should begin on Friday.
The investigation was launched in March 2019 following explosive testimony before the US Congress by a former private attorney for Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, who allegedly obtained fraudulent estimates of ups or downs of assets within the Trump organization to obtain credit for tax cuts or better insurance compensation.
In January, Letitia James assured that she had “unearthed important evidence suggesting that Donald Trump and the Trump Organization mispriced and fraudulently valued a range of assets,” particularly golf courses or the American billionaire’s personal triplex, the located in the Trump Tower in New York. Suspicions disproved by lawyers of Donald Trump, for whom Letitia James, a Democrat, is leading a political “witch hunt”.
While the attorney general’s office has no power to impeach Donald Trump, it can initiate civil proceedings, specifically seeking financial damages.
The alleged facts are also the subject of a criminal investigation, this time, led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
In another episode, the Trump Organization and its former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, a staunch supporter of the former president, were charged with tax evasion and pleaded not guilty. The trial in New York is scheduled to begin later this year.