Donald Trump returned to Lower Manhattan to be deposed for a second time as part of New York state’s $250 million civil lawsuit accusing the former president of manipulating the value of his assets for years to dupe banks and insurers.
(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump returned to Lower Manhattan to be deposed for a second time as part of New York state’s $250 million civil lawsuit accusing the former president of manipulating the value of his assets for years to dupe banks and insurers.
Trump arrived at 9:41 a.m. in a motorcade and went directly into a parking garage of the high-rise offices of New York Attorney General Letitia James. It’s unclear how long the deposition will take or whether Trump will answer any questions, but the former president’s lawyer Alina Habba suggested in a statement that her client would have something to say.
“President Trump is not only willing but also eager to testify before the Attorney General today,” Habba said. “He remains resolute in his stance that he has nothing to conceal, and he looks forward to educating the Attorney General about the immense success of his multi-billion dollar company.”
Trump offered his own unvarnished thoughts on the deposition in a post overnight on social media that also accused James — without evidence — of leaking his arrival time at James’s office near Wall Street.
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“The leak makes it much more difficult for the Police and Secret Service to do their job,” Trump said in the post. “This civil case is ridiculous, just like all of the other Election Interference cases being brought against me. If I had a fair judge, this case would have never happened. MAGA!”
It’s Trump’s second excursion to New York in less than two weeks. He appeared in court less than a mile away on April 4 to plead not guilty in a criminal case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump is accused in that case of falsifying business records to hide a hush-money payment to a porn star.
James previously deposed Trump in August, as she was wrapping up her three-year investigation into the former president’s business dealings. During that appearance, Trump pleaded his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination and didn’t answer any questions other than to confirm his name.
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Trump signaled things may be different this time around.
“I will finally be able to show what a great, profitable, and valuable company I built, actually, some of the greatest real estate assets anywhere in the world,” Trump said in his social-media post, without elaborating.
The case is set to go to trial in October.
Former federal prosecutor Jennifer Rodgers said she expects Trump will assert his Fifth Amendment rights again on Thursday, given James’s close ties to Bragg and the wide-ranging nature of Bragg’s ongoing probe.
“As far as is publicly known — and the Manhattan DA has not said otherwise — Trump remains under criminal investigation for this exact conduct by the DA, so I expect he will follow what is certainly the advice of his lawyers and decline to answer questions about his conduct on this topic,” she said.
Trump will likely be asked hundreds of questions about his role in assessing the value of a range of assets that are central to the case, including his 40 Wall Street tower and a 212-acre property outside Manhattan. The complaint spans more than 200 pages.
Trump has denied wrongdoing in both the civil and criminal cases and claims they are part of a broader “witch hunt” intended to hurt him politically as he seeks to return to the White House in the 2024 presidential election.
James sued Trump, three of his children and his company in September, alleging they inflated the value of his assets for years to dupe banks and insurers into giving them better terms. James, a Democrat who campaigned on promises to go after Trump, is seeking penalties including a permanent ban on the four Trumps running companies in New York.
James cooperated closely with Bragg as he conducted his investigation — a partnership that resulted in their offices teaming up for a criminal case against the Trump Organization and its former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. The former executive pleaded guilty while a jury found Trump’s company guilty of tax crimes following a trial.
(Updates with comment from Trump’s lawyer.)
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