OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Trump family has gotten some good news from a New York appeals court in a case brought by state Attorney General Letitia James. The court removed Ivanka Trump as a co-defendant in a civil lawsuit James has brought against the former president’s businesses in the state.
Donald Trump, along with his two sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, remain co-defendants, CNN reported. James said in a September 2022 press release that the Trumps engaged in “years of financial fraud to obtain a host of economic benefits.”
“The lawsuit alleges that Donald Trump, with the help of his children Donald Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump, and senior executives at the Trump Organization, falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to induce banks to lend money to the Trump Organization on more favorable terms than would otherwise have been available to the company, to satisfy continuing loan covenants, to induce insurers to provide insurance coverage for higher limits and at lower premiums, and to gain tax benefits, among other things,” the release said.
But the appeals court affirmed that Ivanka Trump was not associated with the Trump Organization during the relevant timeframe after the company agreed to conditions set by New York.
“The record before us … indicates that defendant Ivanka Trump was no longer within the agreement’s definition of ‘Trump Organization’ by the date the tolling agreement was executed,” the court found.
“The allegations against defendant Ivanka Trump do not support any claims that accrued after February 6, 2016. Thus, all claims against her should have been dismissed as untimely,” the court added.
The former president, who is once again leading a growing field of 2024 GOP candidates, hailed the ruling and described James’ lawsuit as “election interference” in a Truth Social post.
In a statement to CNN, a spokesperson for James’ office pledged to continue forward with the lawsuit.
“There is a mountain of evidence that shows Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization falsely and fraudulently valued multiple assets and misrepresented those values to financial institutions for significant economic gain,” the rep told the network.
“Those facts haven’t changed. This decision allows us to hold him accountable for that fraud, and we intend to do so,” the spokesperson added.
The appeals court remanded the lawsuit’s claims against the other members of Trump’s family to a trial court to “determine, if necessary, the full range of defendants bound by the [August 2021] tolling agreement.”
Meanwhile, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is facing some legal trouble himself following his decision to indict former President Donald Trump in March.
Bragg is facing a pair of lawsuits related to his filing of charges against Trump, accusing him of illegalities involving a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election facilitated by his then-personal attorney Michael Cohen.
Trump is charged with 34 counts that include allegations of falsifying business records to hide the payment.
Fox News notes: “The Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based conservative think tank, has sued Bragg under suspicions that he and his office coordinated or communicated with the Justice Department, the White House, and Rep. Daniel Goldman, D-N.Y., about the prosecution. In its lawsuit, Heritage claims that such actions eventually led to investigations by several U.S. House committees into Bragg’s conduct.”
“Regrettably, these questions have not been met with answers. These reports have raised concerns in many circles based in large part upon the longstanding history of President Trump’s political opponents coordinating their activities to systematically weaponize the criminal justice system against him and thereby pervert the course of Justice,” says a filing for the first lawsuit.
Heritage has filed a separate lawsuit claiming that Bragg and his team engaged the services of prominent law firms specializing in white-collar litigation pro bono.
Mike Howell, director of Heritage’s Oversight Project, the group’s government watchdog division, said the organization believes Bragg was “coordinating, or otherwise communicating” with Trump’s political opponents and that “there’s reason to believe Bragg was a prolific communicator” via cellphone.
