This content was published on April 13, 2023 – 14:32
minutes
(AFP)
Donald Trump was questioned under oath for several hours this Thursday in a financial fraud case opened by the New York prosecutor’s office that accuses the former US president and three of his children of financial fraud, a week after his indictment in another criminal case.
The 76-year-old former president is facing a series of state, federal and congressional investigations that threaten to complicate his bid to regain the presidency in next year’s White House elections.
This was the second time in just over a week that he has had to appear before the New York court for two different cases.
Trump arrived at the office of New York Attorney Letitia James in lower Manhattan around 10:00 a.m. local time (2:00 p.m. GMT) and returned to Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue shortly after 6:30 p.m. local time.
“This civil case is ridiculous, just like all the other cases of electoral interference that I am the subject of,” he wrote on his Truth Social network before the interrogation.
James sued Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump in September last year alleging they committed “incredible” fraud at the Trump Organization.
Their lawsuit claims they lied to the IRS, lenders and insurers for years in a scheme that routinely misrepresented the value of the organization’s property to enrich themselves.
– “Witch hunt” –
James said they provided fraudulent statements of Trump’s estate and false asset valuations “to obtain and satisfy loans, obtain insurance benefits and pay less taxes.”
Trump, the favorite for the Republican nomination in next year’s presidential election, has once again repeated his usual refrain that it is a “witch hunt.”
He had already appeared, for six hours last August, for another questioning as part of the investigation, shortly before James filed his lawsuit.
In a historic Manhattan district court appearance last Tuesday that brought the nation to a standstill, Trump denied all 34 felony charges related to paying a bribe to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election that led to him being elected. power, becoming the first former president or sitting president charged with a crime.
That case has been criticized almost unanimously by Republicans, including congressional leaders who have called on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, to testify before Congress about the investigation.
James, also a Democrat-elect, has requested that Trump pay at least $250 million in fines – an amount she says he earned from the alleged fraud – and that his family be barred from running businesses in the state.
There are no criminal charges that could stem from his case, which is expected to go to trial later this year.
Trump is also under investigation for his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state of Georgia, his alleged mishandling of classified documents he took from the White House, and his involvement in the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol. of 2021.
A civil trial over a sexual assault and defamation lawsuit filed by former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll against the Republican magnate is scheduled to begin later this month in New York.
