The Daily Fuckup

Donald Trump was still trying to fend off New York’s civil investigation on Feb. 15, 2022, but the immediate fight was narrower than a broad records dispute. The state attorney general had filed papers on Feb. 14 seeking to compel testimony from Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump as part of a probe into the Trump Organization’s financial statements and related conduct.

The filing said the investigation was based on evidence the office had already gathered, including statements of financial condition and other records it said showed possible misrepresentations. The attorney general also pointed to a letter from Mazars, the Trump Organization’s former accounting firm, saying that financial statements covering 2011 through 2020 should no longer be relied on. That development sharpened the pressure on Trump’s side, but as of Feb. 15 the court had not yet ruled on whether the testimony would be compelled.

The legal posture mattered. The office was not waiting to start the investigation; it was asking the court to force witnesses to answer questions tied to that investigation. Trump and his children were challenging the effort, and the dispute was still working its way through the civil process.

The broader question at the center of the case remained the same: whether the Trump Organization used misleading financial statements to secure economic benefit. On Feb. 15, the answer had not been decided. What was clear was that the attorney general was still pushing the case forward and Trump was still trying to slow it down.