Trump answers questions for 7 hours in NY fraud case

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NEW YORK (AP) Former President Donald Trump answered questions for nearly seven hours Thursday in his second deposition in a legal battle with New Yorks attorney general over his company’s business practices, reversing a earlier decision to exercise his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and remain silent.

The Republican met all day with lawyers for Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Trump last year. His lawsuit claims that Trump and his family misled banks and business partners by giving them false information about his net worth and the value of assets such as hotels and golf courses.

Shortly after Trump entered the Manhattan skyscraper that houses James’ offices, his lawyer, Alina Habba, said he was not only ready but eager to testify.

After the deposition, a lawyer for the Trumps’ businesses, Christopher Kise, said the former president spent nearly seven hours describing in detail his extraordinary business success.

The transactions at the center of this case were highly profitable for the banks and for the Trump entities, Kise said. When the facts of this victory, and not the politically engineered soundbites, come out in the open, everyone will scoff at the notion that any fraud took place.

The suit is unrelated to the felony criminal charges filed against Trump by the Manhattan district attorney, which led last week to his historic arraignment, the first for a former president.

James declined to answer a question about the deposition at a news conference on an unrelated matter Wednesday.

Trump previously met with James’ lawyers on August 10, but refused to answer all but a few procedural questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights more than 400 times. At the time, James had not yet charged him and it was unclear whether questions about the way Trump valued his company would form the basis of a criminal case.

Anyone in my position who would not take the Fifth Amendment would be a fool, an absolute fool, he said in that deposition, which was recorded on video and later released to the public. Trump predicted that a renegade prosecutor would try to make a criminal case out of his answers, if he gave them.

A statement or answer that is so small, just once, by accident, by accident, like it’s a sunny, beautiful day, when it’s actually a little overcast, will be greeted by law enforcement at a level rarely seen. in this country, because I experienced it, he said.

Things have changed since then. The criminal charges brought by the Manhattan district attorney focused on how the company was considered internally for payments to a lawyer, Michael Cohen, for his work paying people not to inform. public stories about extramarital affairs that Trump says never happened.

James’ lawsuit focuses on allegations that Trump repeatedly lied about his own wealth and inflated the value of his assets in financial statements.

In a post on social media Thursday morning, Trump called the suit ridiculous, like all the other Election Interference charges brought against him.

He raised his fist as he left his Trump Tower apartment in the morning, arriving by motorcade at the attorney general’s office around 9:40. The two sides rested for lunch. Trump left the motorcade just before 6:15 p.m. and did not stop to speak to reporters.

The case brought by James is scheduled to go to trial in October. Video recordings of Trump depositions could potentially play into the trial, if the lawsuit is not settled.

Thursday’s deposition was conducted in private.

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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