(PresidentialHill.com)- New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office last week subpoenaed Donald Trump’s longtime executive assistant, Rhona Graff, as part of its ongoing civil investigation into the Trump Organization.
Graff’s deposition was scheduled for Tuesday, May 31.
Special litigation counsel Andrew Amer said last week that the AG’s office planned to ask Graff a variety of questions, including Trump’s involvement in preparing annual financial statements, that Graff did not include in her affidavit submitted to the court last Friday.
Graff began working for Donald Trump in 1987. She left the Trump Organization in April 2021 but is among several people who provided affidavits to Trump’s lawyers on Friday as they sought to have his contempt order lifted.
In her affidavit, Graff only described some of the Trump Organization’s retention and preservation practices. According to Andrew Amer, the AG’s office wants to question Graff under oath to get a more detailed account of how Trump’s financial statements were handled.
The AG’s office wants to know if Trump reviewed drafts of financial statements before signing off on the final versions each year, if he added any notes or questions to the drafts, and if he did make notations, what happened to the drafts with Trump’s notes on them.
Letitia James ran for Attorney General in 2018 on the vow to “get Trump.” Since then, her office has been digging into the Trump Organization trying to find something that will do it.
James has claimed that her more than 3-year investigation has uncovered evidence that the Trump Organization misstated the value of assets to secure loans.
The former President has denied the allegations and (with reason) called Letitia James’ investigation a politically-motivated witch hunt.
Trump was held in contempt of court for failing to provide all of the documents subpoenaed by the Attorney General’s office. Trump maintains that he supplied everything he had. Once Graff is deposed, the attorney general’s office will advise the judge if she provided satisfactory testimony and whether Trump’s contempt order should be lifted.
