As a hearing was held regarding whether Trump, Trump Jr. and Ivanka would be deposed about the Trump Organization finances, a Trump lawyer interrupted to ask if there would be an investigation of Hillary’s spying on TFG.
“I want to know, Mr. Wallace, Ms. James, are you going to go after Hillary Clinton for what she’s doing to my client? That she spied at Trump Tower in your state? Are you going to look into her business dealings?” Trump attorney Alina Habba asked. Kevin Wallace is an attorney representing New York AG Letitia James.
“The Clintons are not before me,” said Judge Arthur Engoron.
There is a conspiracy theory being revived in right wing circles that Clinton spied on Trump while he was in the White House.
The accusations stemmed from a misreading of court documents filed by the special counsel John Durham. The filing in question says a lawyer with connections to Clinton obtained nonpublic data from the White House via a technology executive who had legal access to the data.
A lawyer named Michael Sussman was charged with lying to the FBI last year, but the filing did not accuse Sussman or the tech executive of spying or hacking. Sussmann filed a motion Thursday to dismiss the case against him, citing “extraordinary prosecutorial overreach” and a failure to “state an offense.”
Judge Rules in Favor of Deposing Trump, Trump Jr. and Ivanka
After a two-hour hearing Judge Engoron issued a ruling that Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump must sit for depositions in the civil investigation of their business practices. The judge expressed skepticism multiple times toward the Trump argument that sitting for depositions would violate their constitutional rights.
Trump lawyers indicated they would appeal any decision unfavorable.
The judge asked why the Trumps couldn’t invoke the Fifth Amendment as Eric Trump had done “about 500 times.”
Trump lawyers are arguing that the coordination between James’ civil investigation and the criminal investigation by the Manhattan DA would taint any potential grand jury pool, particularly if Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment.