When it comes to the Trump family and legal troubles, much of the focus of late has been on Donald Trump, his criminal indictments, and his ongoing criminal investigations. But the civil cases matter, too.
The former president is, for example, facing several lawsuits filed by police officers who were injured during the Jan. 6 attack; there are pending defamation cases against the Republican filed by writer E. Jean Carroll; and perhaps most notable of all is the sweeping civil case brought by the New York Attorney General’s Office, which affects Trump and three of his adult children.
Today, as NBC News reported, the list of defendants grew a little smaller.
A New York appeals court Tuesday dismissed claims against Ivanka Trump in the state attorney general’s $250 million lawsuit against the former president, his oldest children and his company. In a five-page ruling, a five-judge panel of the state Appellate Division found that New York Attorney General Letitia James’ claims against Ivanka Trump were “time-barred” and that she should be dismissed as a defendant in the case.
“The allegations against defendant Ivanka Trump do not support any claims that accrued after February 6, 2016. Thus, all claims against her should have been dismissed as untimely,” the ruling said.
In case anyone needs a refresher — there are quite a few Trump-related cases to keep track of, aren’t there? — let’s revisit our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point.
It was in March 2019 when New York Attorney General Letitia James first opened a civil investigation into the Trump Organization, and in the months that followed James left no doubt that the probe had uncovered systemic wrongdoing.
Last year, for example, the Democratic state attorney general declared in a court filing, “Thus far in our investigation, we have uncovered significant evidence that suggests Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization falsely and fraudulently valued multiple assets and misrepresented those values to financial institutions for economic benefit.”
In August 2022, the former president had an opportunity to convince state prosecutors that he didn’t commit fraud, but instead he pleaded the Fifth — by some accounts, more than 440 times.
Six weeks later, James declared at a press conference that the former president, three of his adult children, and his business operation engaged in “intentional and deliberate fraud.” To that end, the New York attorney general filed a 220-page lawsuit, which detailed extensive efforts by the former president to, among other things, inflate his personal net worth in order to secure more favorable loans. James’ office, pointing to more than 200 instances of fraud over 10 years, said it is seeking roughly $250 million in civil penalties. It now appears, however, that state court assessed Ivanka Trump’s liabilities in the case and determined that she’s in the clear. For the Trump family, that’s the good news. The bad news is that the case still exists against two of her adult siblings and her father, though an attorney for the former president issued a statement today saying he still hopes to end the entire case. Watch this space. This post revises our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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