Former US President Donald Trump is due to testify to attorneys at the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. CNN, pitting the two adversaries against each other after a more than three-year civil investigation into the finances of the Trump Organizations.
It is unclear whether Trump will answer questions or use his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during closed-door testimony.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social – his social media platform – early Wednesday morning that he would be “seeing” James “for the continuation of the biggest witch hunt in US history! My big company and I are being attacked from all sides. Banana Republic!”
The deposition takes place during an extraordinary legal week for the former president.
On Monday, the FBI executed a search warrant in Mar-a-Lago, his primary residence in the US state of Florida, in connection with an investigation into the handling of confidential documents.
On Tuesday, a federal appeals court denied his long-standing effort to prevent a House committee from getting your tax returns.
Some Trump aides have advocated for the former president to answer questions as he has previously testified about his financial records under oath, while others have warned him not to provide answers because of the potential legal risk he may face, people familiar with the matter said. The CNN .
The Manhattan District Attorney has a criminal investigation — separate from the civil investigation at issue this Wednesday (10) — underway into the Trump Organizations.
Another consideration that has been discussed, people familiar with it say, is the political implications of not answering questions as Trump is expected to announce that he will run for president in 2024.
While campaigning in 2016, Trump suggested that not answering questions was a sign of guilt. At a rally in Iowa in 2016, Trump said, “If you’re innocent, why are you using the Fifth Amendment?”
A lawyer for Trump declined to comment. A representative of the attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s testimony comes near the end of a lengthy New York state investigation into whether the Trump Organizations misled creditors, insurers and tax officials by providing misleading financial statements.
In January, James’ office said it found “significant” evidence indicating that the Trump Organizations used false or misleading asset valuations on their financial statements to obtain loans, insurance and tax benefits.
The attorney general’s civil investigation is drawing to a close and a decision on an enforcement action could come out soon.
The former president and the Trump Organizations previously denied any wrongdoing and called the civil investigation of James, a Democrat, politically motivated. Both James and Trump exchanged public barbs.
The confrontation follows Trump’s failed attempt to block testimonies of him and his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump.
Ivanka Trump’s deposition took place last week and Trump Jr. had his deposition in late July, people familiar with the matter said.
Trump Jr., who runs the Trump Organizations with his brother Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump have not claimed their Fifth Amendment rights and responded to questions from the state, sources said.
It is unclear what they were specifically asked or what they said. His decisions break with Eric Trump and former Trump Organizations chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, who asserted their Fifth Amendment rights more than 500 times when deposed in 2020.
Trump has testified under oath in civil lawsuits over the past few decades and, since leaving office, has also been deposed. Last year, he gave video testimony for a lawsuit involving an attack outside Trump Tower.
The case is due to go to trial in the fall. Trump denied any wrongdoing.
Trump’s Net Worth Questions
Trump has been asked about the accuracy of his net worth and financial statements in previous lawsuits, something some advisers say is one of the reasons he must answer questions in the current investigation.
In a 2007 deposition in a defamation suit, Trump once said that he calculated his net worth, to some extent, based on his “feelings” and that he gave the “best spin” to some of the assets.
“I think everybody” exaggerates the value of their properties, he testified, adding, “Who wouldn’t?”
Did he inflate the values? “Not beyond reason,” Trump said.
In the past, Trump has tried to push responsibility for his evaluation decisions onto Weisselberg, while at the same time, documents and testimony appear to show that even though Trump claimed to have left those evaluation decisions to others, he was also deeply involved in the execution. . his business.
Trump said in his 2007 deposition that the only person he dealt with in preparing the financial condition statements was Weisselberg.
“I would give my opinion,” Trump said in the deposition. “Let’s talk about it,” he said, adding that “ultimately” and “predominantly” it was Weisselberg who came up with the final figures, which Trump said he saw as “conservative.”
When asked specifically about fluctuations in values from one year to the next, Trump had explanations ready.
During the testimony, Trump was asked about the family compound in Westchester County, New York, called Seven Springs, where its value nearly doubled in one year, from $80 million in 2005 to $150 million in 2006.
“The property was valued very low, in my opinion, and it has become a lot – it has only gone up,” Trump said.
He was asked if he had any basis for this view other than his own opinion.
“I don’t think so,” he said.
In addition to Weisselberg, two others involved in preparing the financial statements, Jeff McConney, controller of the Trump Organizations, and Donald Bender, the real estate’s outside accountant, were interviewed by the attorney general and the Manhattan District Attorney.
Trump’s lawyers will likely argue that the financial statements were unaudited, so anyone who trusted them would be forewarned.
The financial statements analyzed by CNN show that they have multiple disclosures indicating that they do not conform to generally accepted accounting principles.
In addition, none of the creditors lost money on the transactions, which could make it difficult to claim that they were defrauded or deceived.
The valuations underlying the property values were, in many cases, provided by Trump’s longtime appraiser Cushman & Wakefield, which is also under investigation.
Cushman, who severed ties with Trump following the January 6, 2021, invasion of the Capitol, has denied any wrongdoing and stands by his job.
Legal risks for Trump
The depositions pose significant legal risks for the Trumps.
If Trump is prosecuted by James and the case goes to trial, the jury could draw an “adverse inference” against him for not answering questions, which could result in a higher judgment against him if he is found responsible.
If he answers questions, it could open the door to possible civil and criminal liability.
The criminal investigation, led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, has slowed but not stopped.
Earlier this year, Bragg did not authorize prosecutors to present evidence before a state grand jury after raising concerns about the strength of the case, he told CNN .
A special grand jury hearing evidence in the case expired in April, but a new one may be placed in the future.
Bragg told CNN in an interview in April: “Whenever you have a parallel civil and criminal investigation, if there are depositions in that process, obviously we will look into it.”
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
