Donald Trump was scheduled to participate on Wednesday August 10, 2022 in a sworn hearing in New York as part of the civil investigation into suspicions of financial fraud within the Trump Organization, announced the ex-president on his social network. In a statement, he said he refused to answer questions from the New York Attorney General’s office.
“In New York tonight. I see the racist New York Attorney General tomorrow for the prosecution of the greatest witch hunt in the history of the United States”the Republican said Tuesday on his Truth Social platform. “My wonderful company and I are under attack from all sides”he added.
After the hearing, he said in a statement that he “refused to answer questions, under the rights and prerogatives granted to every citizen by the Constitution of the United States”.
An investigation opened in 2019
The former president’s hearing with New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is African-American, was originally set for July 15 but was postponed after the death of Donald Trump’s first wife, Ivana.
The billionaire and two of his children who have responsibilities within the group, Donald Jr and Ivanka, were forced to testify under oath by a judge of the Supreme Court of New York after a long legal tussle with Letitia James who has made this file one of its priorities.
The investigation had been launched in March 2019 after the explosive testimony in the United States Congress of one of Donald Trump’s former personal lawyers, Michael Cohen, alleging fraudulent appraisals, up or down, of assets within from the Trump Organization, to obtain loans, obtain tax reductions or better insurance compensation.
Two days after an FBI search of his home
In January, Letitia James had assured to have “uncovered significant evidence that suggests that Donald Trump and the Trump Organization falsely and fraudulently valued a number of assets”, in particular golf courses or the personal triplex of the American billionaire, located in the Trump Tower in New York. Suspicions refuted by lawyers for Donald Trump, for whom Letitia James, a Democrat, is leading a ” witch hunt “ Politics.
The Attorney General does not have the power to indict Donald Trump but she can initiate civil proceedings and in particular claim financial damages.
The alleged facts are also the subject of an investigation, criminal this time, led by Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg.
This hearing comes two days after a spectacular search of Donald Trump’s home in Florida by the FBI.
–
