Ivanka Trump withdraws appeal of judge’s order requiring her testimony next week in civil fraud trial

By CNN Newsource

Published November 3, 2023 2:22 PM

By Kara Scannell and Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, CNN

(CNN) — Ivanka Trump on Friday withdrew her appeal of a judge’s order requiring her to testify at her father’s civil fraud trial next week after an appellate court refused to pause her testimony.

She is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.

Ivanka Trump’s testimony comes after she was previously dismissed as a co-defendant in the New York case against former President Donald Trump, two of his adult sons and his company. Multiple attempts by her legal team to delay her testimony have been rebuffed.

On Thursday night, an appeals court denied Ivanka Trump’s request to postpone her testimony until her lawyers could make arguments before the panel that she shouldn’t be required to appear. She had also asked the court to pause the entire fraud trial.

The former president’s eldest daughter had claimed she would suffer “undue hardship” if she were made to testify during the school week, as she lives in Florida with three minor children. Her team has also argued that the New York civil court has no jurisdiction to compel her testimony since she is no longer a defendant in the lawsuit and does not live in New York state. New York Judge Arthur Engoron previously rejected those arguments.

Her attorneys, in dropping the appeal Friday, said it is is now “moot” because she is scheduled to testify on Wednesday before she can make her legal arguments.

Ivanka Trump’s brothers, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, appeared in court this week. Both men helped run the Trump Organization while their father was in the White House. The former president is slated to testify on Monday.

The civil trial began in October, soon after Engoron found in September that Trump and his co-defendants were liable for “persistent and repeated” fraud.

A New York appeals court dismissed Ivanka Trump as a co-defendant from the suit in June, finding the claims against her were too old because she was not part of an August 2021 agreement between New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office and the Trump Organization to toll the statute of limitations.

CNN’s Jeremy Herb, Laura Ly and Lauren del Valle contributed to his report.