Former President Donald Trump spent nearly seven hours on April 13 answering questions during his second deposition as part of a $250 million fraud case bought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
His attorney Alina Habba said he was “not only willing but also eager to testify” in the deposition for which James, a Democrat, was reportedly not present.
That marks a reversal from Trump’s previous deposition in the civil case last year when he invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and remained silent.
Lawsuit Details
The complaint also named Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of The Trump Organization, and Jeff McConney, another executive.The New York attorney general claims that her office has uncovered “significant evidence indicating that the Trump Organization used fraudulent and misleading asset valuations on multiple properties to obtain economic benefits, including loans, insurance coverage, and tax deductions for years.”
James wants the Trump Organization to be blocked from doing business in New York, from engaging in real estate acquisitions in the state for five years, and for Trump and his children to be barred from serving as high-level executives at any company in New York.
Trump, who is running for president again in 2024, has denied wrongdoing and called the case against him politically motivated.
Trump Pleads Not Guilty in Bragg Case
After his deposition, a lawyer for Trump’s businesses, Christopher Kise, said the former president had spent nearly seven hours “describing in detail his extraordinary business success.”“The transactions at the center of this case were wildly profitable for the banks and for the Trump entities,” Kise said. “When the facts of this success, and not politically engineered soundbites, are out in the open, everyone will scoff at the notion any fraud took place.”
The lawsuit James brought against Trump is scheduled to go to trial in October if it is not settled before then.
Trump’s deposition on Thursday came after he last week pleaded not guilty in New York to 34 felony charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
That case, which is separate from Attorney General James’s one against the former president, relates to Bragg’s investigation into allegations that Trump orchestrated hush-money payments to adult entertainment actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign.
New York prosecutors allege that Trump directed his former personal attorney Michael Cohen to pay Daniels in an effort to buy her silence over an alleged affair and repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal the payments—a violation of state and federal election laws.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and the alleged affair with Daniels.
