Back in July, Eric Trump was scheduled to comply with a subpoena issued by the office of Tish James, the New York Attorney General and sit for an interview under oath. But two days before he had promised to appear, he backed out.
A month later, James went to court in order to compel Eric, who currently serves as executive vice president of the Trump Organization (aka his daddy’s company), to turn over documents related to an ongoing investigation by her office into whether or not the company has inflated assets in order to lure investors or deflated them when it came time to pay taxes.
Now, however, Eric says he can’t be bothered to comply with a subpoena because he’s far too busy helping campaign for his father, NBC News reports:
“Trump’s lawyer said in a court filing that he needs the delay because of his ‘extreme travel schedule and related unavailability between now and the election and to avoid the use of his deposition attendance for political purposes.'”
That led James to make it clear she’s on the verge of taking even harsher action against Eric and the Trump Organization, noting in a statement:
“While we cannot comment on the particular steps we’re taking on specific litigation, we won’t allow any entity or individual to dictate how our investigation will proceed or allow anyone to evade a lawful subpoena. No one is above the law, period.”
The message James is sending couldn’t be clearer: Your name may be Trump and your father may be the president, but that doesn’t mean shit to me and doesn’t cut a bit of ice in the state of New York.
In New York, failure to comply with a subpoena is considered to be contempt of court, and that can land you in jail until you decide to cooperate. In other words, the longer you remain recalcitrant and drag your heels, the longer you get to stay locked up until you change your mind and start to see things the court’s way.
There’s a chance Eric may get a delay until after the election, but as soon as November 3 comes and goes, he’d best be ready to show up and comply with the AG’s subpoena. Otherwise, he’s going to be wearing an orange jumpsuit and his name will be replaced with an inmate number.
The choice yours, Eric.