A New York judge has ruled that former United States President Donald Trump and two of his children must answer questions under oath within 21 days in the state attorney-general's civil probe into their family company.
Justice Arthur Engoron of the New York state court in Manhattan on Thursday ruled in favour of Attorney-General Letitia James in directing Mr Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr and his daughter Ivanka Trump to testify.
Justice Engoron said Ms James had "the clear right" to issue her subpoenas and question the Trumps after having uncovered "copious evidence of possible financial fraud".
Failing to issue subpoenas "would have been a blatant dereliction of duty," Justice Engoron wrote.
"Today, justice prevailed," Ms James said in a statement.
"No one will be permitted to stand in the way of the pursuit of justice, no matter how powerful they are. No one is above the law."
Lawyers for Donald Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump, declined to comment.
The decision followed a two-hour hearing in which the Trumps' lawyers accused Ms James of doing an end run around their clients' constitutional rights by seeking testimony she could then use against them in a parallel criminal investigation.
Alina Habba, one of Donald Trump's lawyers, accused Ms James of "selective prosecution and prosecutorial misconduct that this country has never seen," citing what she called the Democratic attorney-general's "vile disdain" for Mr Trump, a Republican.
"If he was not who he is, she would not be doing this," Ms Habba said. "This court can help stop this circus."
Last month, Ms James said her nearly three-year investigation into the Trump Organisation had uncovered significant evidence of possible fraud.
She described what she called misleading statements about the values of the "Trump Brand" and six Trump properties, saying the company may have inflated real estate values to obtain bank loans and reduced them to lower tax bills.
Justice Engoron also declined the Trumps' request to put Ms James' case on hold while the criminal case, led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, is pending. Ms James joined that probe last May.
The criminal investigation, begun by Mr Bragg's predecessor Cyrus Vance, resulted last July in tax fraud charges against the Trump Organisation and its longtime chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg. Both pleaded not guilty.
'Completely misses the mark'
Justice Engoron said the argument that Ms James was trying to bypass grand jury protections, which would give the Trumps immunity, by issuing civil subpoenas "completely misses the mark".
He said the Trumps could refuse to answer questions, noting that Donald Trump's other adult son Eric Trump invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination more than 500 times when the attorney-general's office questioned him in 2020.
The judge also rejected the Trumps' claim that Ms James' sometimes aggressive public statements about investigating Donald Trump, including a pledge that "we're definitely going to sue him," illustrated the "impropriety" of her probe.
Justice Engoron said the spark for the investigation was not Ms James' dislike of the former president, but rather congressional testimony from Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen that the Trumps were "cooking the books".
The judge also noted Mr Trump's history of investigations by the attorney-general's office, including "significant settlements" with Ms James' predecessors concerning a namesake university and charitable foundation.
Mr Trump has called Ms James' investigation a political "witch hunt and is suing to try to stop it. He has not said whether he will run for president again in 2024.
Justice Engoron ruled after Mr Trump's longtime accounting firm Mazars USA decided last week to cut ties with him and the Trump Organisation, saying it could no longer stand behind a decade of financial statements despite finding no material discrepancies.
The Trump Organisation said Mazars' findings effectively rendered Ms James' and Mr Bragg's investigations "moot".
Engoron dismissed that interpretation as "reminiscent of Lewis Carroll," author of the reality-bending novel "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".
The Trumps have not been accused of criminal wrongdoing.
Washington DC's attorney-general is separately suing the Trump Organisation and Trump's inaugural committee over the alleged misuse of $1.1 million of charitable funds.
The trial date of 26 September was set on Thursday.
