Former President Donald Trump defended his real estate business during a seven-hour deposition with New York Attorney General Letitia James, defying expectations that he would plead his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination as he did the first time he was questioned.
(Bloomberg) — Former President Donald Trump defended his real estate business during a seven-hour deposition with New York Attorney General Letitia James, defying expectations that he would plead his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination as he did the first time he was questioned.
“He answered every question and as we have said from day one there is absolutely no case,” his lawyer Alina Habba said Thursday in a text message hours after the deposition in Lower Manhattan wrapped up.
James sued Trump, three of his children and his company in September for $250 million, alleging they inflated the value of his assets for years to dupe banks and insurers into giving them better terms. The politically charged case is set to go to trial in October in Manhattan.
James, who was in the room Thursday, read a prepared statement at the start of the session, according to a person familiar with the matter. Her office declined to comment.
On Friday, Trump said on social-media he’d spent “an interesting day” with James and urged her to drop the case. He downplayed the significance of the annual financial statements on his wealth that are at the center of the case. “My company and overall value is actually far stronger and higher than shown in the so-called Financial Statement,” he said.
James previously deposed Trump in August, as she was wrapping up her three-year investigation into the former president’s business dealings. At the time, Trump pleaded his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination for every question, except when asked to confirm his name.
Trump signaled early Thursday morning that he was potentially going to answer questions, saying in a social media post that he was eager to explain his successful real estate business. And according to his lawyer, he did.
“President Trump spent nearly seven hours today describing in detail his extraordinary business success,” said Chris Kise, a lawyer for Trump who defended the deposition. “The transactions at the center of this case were wildly profitable for the banks and for the Trump entities.”
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. The probe was triggered by public comments made by Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who testified to Congress early in Trump’s presidency that his former boss manipulated asset values to inflate his wealth.
Read More: Trump Sues Ex-Lawyer Cohen for $500 Million Over ‘Breaches’
Thursday’s deposition was 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. Trump has also denied wrongdoing in that case.
(Updates with Trump comment on deposition.)
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