Former President Donald Trump not only appeared in state court in Manhattan for his arraignment on 34 felonies related to his alleged role of paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels, but he had yet another deposition last week brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. “President Trump spent nearly seven hours today describing in detail his extraordinary business success,” said Chris Kise, a lawyer for Mr. Trump. “The transactions at the center of this case were wildly profitable for the banks and for the Trump entities.”
“The deposition marked Mr. Trump’s second with lawyers for Ms. James, who has accused the former president, his business and three of his adult children of a decadelong scheme to falsely value real-estate assets. The lawsuit seeks $250 million in alleged ill-gotten gains, in addition to asking a judge to effectively cripple the Trumps’ ability to operate their company in New York” reports Fox News.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing, claiming the liberal Attorney General is purely motivated by politics. Trump also pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges involving hush money to Daniels, which were brought on by another Democrat powerhouse, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
The former president answered every question, said Alina Habba, another lawyer for Trump, who sat for his first deposition with Ms. James’s lawyers in August, about a month before the attorney general filed her lawsuit.
“In that interview, he asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and declined to answer questions. Video of that deposition shows that he read a lengthy statement, in which he criticized the investigation as politically motivated and explained his reasons for declining to answer questions” adds Fox News.
“I have absolutely no choice because the current administration and many prosecutors in this country have lost all moral and ethical bounds of decency,” he said. “Anyone in my position not taking the Fifth Amendment would be a fool, an absolute fool.”
