Eric Trump must testify in New York fraud investigation before Election Day

Eric Trump's excuses weren't enough to keep him from addressing a fraud investigation into his family's real estate business.

Trump's lawyers said he was willing to meet with investigators regarding a probe into the Trump Organization, but that he was too busy to do so until after the election. New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron shot that request down on Wednesday, giving Trump a deadline of Oct. 7 to testify, The New York Times reports.

New York Attorney General Letitia James had subpoenaed Trump, a top executive at the Trump Organization, in an investigation into whether President Trump inflated his assets' values to get loans and tax benefits, CNBC notes. Eric Trump was set to meet with James' team in July, but he canceled, leading James to seek a court order to enforce her subpoena for his testimony and documents "withheld by the Trump administration."

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Engoron's Wednesday order will give James access to those documents as well as force Trump to testify. James' team had argued that Trump "can't delay compliance for another two months," and Engoron agreed, saying Wednesday he found Trump's excuse "unpersuasive."

James' investigation stems from Michael Cohen's testimony before Congress last year. Cohen, President Trump's former fixer, testified that the president had "inflated" his assets to get loans and insurance coverage.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.