Donald Trump testified beneath oath for a number of hours on Thursday in a New York civil case that accuses the ex-president and three of his youngsters of business fraud.
The behind-closed-doors deposition got here per week after Trump’s historic arraignment on felony costs in a Manhattan courtroom in a separate case.
The 76-year-old Republican is going through a slew of state, federal, and congressional probes that threaten to complicate his bid to regain the presidency in subsequent yr’s White House election.
The prolonged deposition was the second time he had sat for questions within the lawsuit introduced by New York state legal professional common Letitia James.
Trump arrived at James’s workplace in decrease Manhattan round 10:00 am (1400 GMT) and returned to Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue shortly after 6:30 pm.
“This civil case is ridiculous, just like all of the other Election Interference cases being brought against me,” he wrote on his social media web site Truth Social forward of his testimony.
A lawyer for Trump and a spokesperson for James didn’t return requests for remark.
James sued Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump in September final yr alleging they dedicated “incredible” fraud on the Trump Organization.
Her lawsuit asserts that they lied to tax collectors, lenders and insurers for years in a scheme that routinely misstated the worth of the group’s properties to counterpoint themselves.
‘Witch hunt’
James stated they offered fraudulent statements of Trump’s web value and false asset valuations “to obtain and satisfy loans, get insurance benefits, and pay lower taxes.”
Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in subsequent yr’s presidential election, has used his widespread chorus of “witch hunt” to explain the case.
He appeared for six hours of questioning within the probe final August, shortly earlier than James filed her lawsuit.
In a dramatic courtroom look final Tuesday that transfixed the nation, Trump denied 34 felony counts associated to hush cash paid to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly earlier than the 2016 election that introduced him to energy.
He grew to become the primary former or sitting president to ever be charged with against the law.
That case has been criticized nearly unanimously by Republican officers, together with congressional leaders who’ve requested Manhattan’s district legal professional Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, to testify in regards to the probe earlier than Congress.
James, additionally an elected Democrat, has requested that Trump pay no less than $250 million in penalties — a sum she says he constituted of the alleged fraud — and that his household be banned from operating companies within the state.
No felony costs can stem from her case, which is predicted to go to trial later this yr.
Trump can be being investigated over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss within the state of Georgia, his alleged mishandling of categorised paperwork taken from the White House and his involvement within the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
A civil trial for a sexual assault and defamation lawsuit introduced by former journal columnist E. Jean Carroll towards Trump is scheduled to begin in New York later this month. —Agence France-Presse
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
