华盛顿特区的一名法官周四将华盛顿特区司法部长针对前总统特朗普2017年就职委员会提起的案件的审判日期定在9月。
华盛顿高等法院法官伊冯娜·威廉姆斯(Yvonne Williams)将审判定于9月26日开始,这一日期将在11月关键的2022年中期选举前几周开始。
此前三天,威廉姆斯推翻了另一名法官早些时候做出的将特朗普的家族企业从诉讼中移除的决定。
华盛顿总检察长办公室指控特朗普2017年总统就职委员会滥用非营利基金支付特朗普酒店的活动场地和其他支出。该案部分基于“私人习惯”的主张,即就职委员会是否将其资金用于私人利益而非非营利目的的问题。
高级法院法官驳回诉讼的一部分2020年11月,称总检察长办公室没有达到允许诉讼继续进行的证据标准。该裁决将特朗普组织作为本案的指定被告,但保留了前总统华盛顿酒店作为指定被告,以及就职委员会本身——在威廉姆斯周一恢复特朗普组织作为被告之前。
安德鲁·哈勒/彭博
在这张2017年1月20日的档案照片中,当选总统唐纳德·特朗普宣誓就职.
同样在周四的听证会上,特朗普的法律团队要求法官不要允许华盛顿司法部长罢免前特朗普组织首席财务官艾伦·魏斯勒伯格在就职委员会一案中,声称这将是一次“更广泛的调查”
威廉姆斯法官最终表示,她将“允许韦斯伯格先生进行有限的作证。”
Judge sets trial date for case against Trump inaugural committee
A Washington, D.C., judge on Thursday set a September trial date for a case brought by the D.C. attorney general against former President Trump's 2017 inaugural committee.
D.C. Superior Court Judge Yvonne Williams scheduled the trial to begin on Sept. 26 -- a date that will fall a few weeks ahead of the pivotal 2022 midterm elections in November.
The move comes three days after Williams reversed another judge's earlier decision removing Trump's family business from the suit.
The D.C. Attorney General's Office alleges that Trump's 2017 Presidential Inaugural Committee misused nonprofit funds to pay for event space at the Trump Hotel and other expenditures. The case rests, in part, on the claim of "private inurement" -- the question of whether the inaugural committee used its funds for private benefit rather than nonprofit purposes.
A superior court judgedismissed a portion of a lawsuitin November 2020, saying the AG's office had not met the standard of proof that would allow that part of the suit to proceed. The ruling removed the Trump Organization as a named defendant in the case, yet kept the former president's Washington hotel as a named defendant, as well as the inaugural committee itself -- before Williams reinstated the Trump Organization as a defendant on Monday.
Also during Thursday's hearing, Trump's legal team asked the judge to not allow the D.C. attorney general to depose former Trump Organization CFOAllen Weisselbergin the inaugural committee case, claiming it would be a "broader fishing expedition."
Judge Williams ultimately said she would "allow a limited deposition of Mr. Weisselberg."