A state supreme court judge today will hear New York Attorney General Letitia James’s case for enforcing a subpoena against President Trump. The outcome could be a requirement that Mr. Trump appear in court and testify under oath concerning allegations of fraudulent valuations of his company’s properties.

The judge’s ruling will the latest step in a months-long battle between Ms. James and Mr. Trump over the legitimacy of her investigation and the quality of his defense. The former president’s legal team has filed a separate lawsuit in federal court in Albany claiming the case is compromised because of Ms. James’s personal political motivations.

“There should be no doubt that this is a lawful investigation and that we have legitimate reason to seek testimony from Donald J. Trump, Donald J. Trump, Jr., and Ivanka Trump,” Ms. James said in a statement released Monday.

Mr. Trump has a different view of the situation, maintaining that her motivations in her civil investigation are motivated by politics, rather than her duties as New York’s attorney general. 

“Her mission is guided solely by political animus and a desire to harass, intimidate, and retaliate against a private citizen who she views as a political opponent,” reads the lawsuit filed by Mr. Trump to stop the investigation.

Ms. James later filed to dismiss Mr. Trump’s complaint, saying, “We will not be deterred by frivolous lawsuits.” 

The federal case remains open, but the attorney general’s case will be heard in state court on Thursday, potentially settling the issue of whether the court will compel testimony from Mr. Trump before the federal suit is resolved.

Ms. James alleges that Mr. Trump’s businesses engaged in “fraudulent and misleading” valuations of properties, specifically for the purposes of acquiring loans and tax benefits.

Although the former president has refused to cooperate with the investigation, there are some signs suggesting that the valuations indeed may have been inaccurate.

Mr. Trump’s longtime accounting agency, Mazars USA LLP, last week said it could no longer stand by financial documents it had prepared for Mr. Trump and his companies.

“While we have not concluded that the various financial statements, as a whole, contain material discrepancies, based upon the totality of the circumstances, we believe our advice to you to no longer rely upon those financial statements is appropriate,” the Mazars general counsel, William J. Kelly, wrote to the Trump Organization.

The company has cut ties with Mr. Trump, advising that his organization find a different tax preparer.

The Trump team has denied there are any problems with the documents, saying that “such statements of financial condition do not contain any material discrepancies.”

Mr. Trump, for one, has pointed to the political ambitions of Ms. James and her long history of public attacks on Mr. Trump while characterizing her investigation as “a continuation of the political witch hunt that has gone on against me.”

Ms. James has used antagonistic rhetoric for years concerning Mr. Trump, including shortly after her electoral victory in 2018.

“We’re going to be a real pain,” Ms. James said about Mr. Trump in a video. “He’s going to know my name personally.”

Politically motivated or not, Justice Arthur Engoron is likely to decide today if Mr. Trump will be required to comply with the attorney general’s subpoena. 

If the judge rules against Mr. Trump, he and members of his family could be required to testify under oath. It could also potentially render moot the federal case concerning the investigation.

That case, at New York’s Northern District Court, has yet to be heard by a judge. Most recently, Ms. James motioned for its dismissal. No decision has yet been reached.