Reporting on the battle between New York Attorney General Letitia James and the Trump family after she announced she will be subpoenaing them, NBC’s Tom Winter explained that should Don Trump Jr. and Ivanka appear before a grand jury they may face a legal dilemma.
Speaking with “Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist, Winter reported the two — along with their father — are attempting to quash the subpoenas issued to get more information on their business dealings.
Should they be compelled to appear, they could be forced to admit to crimes that are the subject of other investigations.
“One of the things they were looking at is the Seven Springs property in Westchester County in New York, whether or not they properly valuing that property as they sought to get a $21 million tax easement as part of the work they were doing in some of the ways in which they were classifying that property. That’s what they were looking into” Winter explained. “The Trump’s attorney is saying it was unprecedented and unconstitutional that these subpoenas should be issued for all three of them.”
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“You got Eric Trump already talked to them, Ivanka, Don Jr. and the former president all being asked to speak to the attorney general’s office here as part of this,” he added. “They proposed two solutions: the first to quash it and just say the subpoenas should not be issued at all. The second option, or Plan B, to quote their filing, is that this be held until the criminal investigation is done.”
“The situation they don’t want to get themselves in obviously is a situation where they are providing information in a civil case that is then going to be used in the criminal case,” he elaborated. “New York state has some very unique grand jury laws where if you sit before a grand jury, you can’t be charged for any of the things you are asked about or any of the answers you give unless you commit perjury. So this is being seen by some on the Trump’s side as an end-around of the New York State grand jury process.”
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