On Monday, Donald Trump and two of his adult children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., filed an appeal in federal court, asking a judge to shut down an attempt by New York Attorney General Letitia James to have them sit for depositions.
In their appeal, the Trumps argued that he and his children should receive “certain immunities” and that James should bring them before a state grand jury for such protection if she wants them to testify, CNN reports.
Attorneys for the Trumps also wrote in the filing that “statutory protections would be eviscerated if the same agency involved in the criminal investigation simply opens up a ‘civil’ investigation into the very same matters,” according to CNN.
As noted by the news network, “the appeal is part of the Trump family’s attempt to fight a lower court’s ruling last month that ordered the former president and his two eldest children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., to sit for a deposition amid James’s probe into alleged fraud by the Trump Organization.
While the appeal is pertaining to a civil case, James and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office are also conducting a separate joint criminal probe into whether Trump lowered property values on his forms for tax agents but raised them to look better for financial lenders.
