.jpg)
Trump pleaded the fifth more than 400 times in
fraud deposition, video shows
Former president repeatedly invoked constitutional
right against self-incrimination in New York footage from late last summer
Martin
Pengelly in New York
@MartinPengelly
Tue 31 Jan
2023 13.22 EST
Video
released on Tuesday showed Donald Trump answering questions from the New York
state attorney general, Letitia James, in a deposition in a civil fraud case
late last summer.
Questioned
about his financial affairs, the former president repeatedly invoked his
fifth-amendment right against self-incrimination – part of a refusal to answer
he repeated more than 400 times.
“Anyone in
my position not taking the fifth amendment would be a fool, an absolute fool,”
Trump said.
On the
advice of counsel, Trump said, he “respectfully decline[d] to answer the
questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the
United States constitution”.
The footage
was obtained and reported by CBS News.
Three of
Trump’s children – Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump – were also
deposed by James during an investigation which lasted for three years.
In his
deposition, Trump repeatedly claimed to have been treated unfairly.
James told
him: “Anything you say in this examination may be used in a civil proceeding,
and that can include a civil enforcement proceeding or a criminal action. Do
you understand that?”
Trump
replied: “I think.”
James
asked: “Is that yes?”
Trump said:
“I don’t know what I did wrong, but the answer is yes, I do understand.”
Trump was
also warned about the risk of perjury.
Reading a
prepared statement, he complained of “the greatest witch-hunt in the history of
our country” and called James “a renegade and out of control prosecutor”.
He added:
“This whole thing is very unfair.”
Trump
acknowledged the deposition and his refusal to answer questions at the time,
saying in a statement: “I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking
the fifth amendment?’ Now I know the answer to that question.
“When your
family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets
of an unfounded, politically motivated witch-hunt supported by lawyers,
prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice.”
The
deposition took place on 10 August, two days after Trump’s Florida home,
Mar-a-Lago, was raided by FBI agents looking for classified documents.
In his
statement, Trump said the raid “wiped out any uncertainty” about whether he
should take the fifth in his deposition by James.
“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.
In late
September 2022, James announced a wide-ranging civil suit against Donald Trump,
Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump and the Trump Organization.
James said
Trump “falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich
himself and to cheat the system, thereby cheating all of us. He did this with
the help of the other defendants.”
Saying “the
number of grossly inflated asset values is staggering”, the suit seeks to bar
the Trumps from serving as executives in New York and to prohibit the company
from acquiring commercial real estate or receiving loans from New York-based
entities for five years.
In
November, Trump sued James, over what he called a “relentless, pernicious,
public, and unapologetic crusade” against him.
Trump
dropped the suit this month, a day after a suit against Hillary Clinton was
thrown out and Trump and his lawyer were hit with a near-$1m sanction.
Ever
litigious, on Monday Trump announced a near-$50m lawsuit against the Washington
Post reporter Bob Woodward and the publisher Simon & Schuster, over an
audio book, The Trump Tapes, for which Trump says he did not give permission.
Woodward
and Simon & Schuster said the suit was “without merit and we will
aggressively defend against it”.
Even as he
steps up the pace in his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in
2024, Trump faces legal jeopardy on numerous fronts aside from the New York
state civil suit.
Prosecutors
in New York City who secured a conviction against Trump’s chief financial
officer on tax offences have said they are looking again at a hush money
payment to a porn star, made in 2016.
Also in New
York, Trump faces lawsuits from E Jean Carroll, a writer who says he raped her
in the mid-1990s, an allegation Trump denies.
The
Department of Justice and state authorities are investigating Trump’s attempt
to overturn the 2020 election and his incitement of the US Capitol attack,
regarding which the House January 6 committee made four criminal referrals.
The justice
department also continues to investigate Trump’s retention of classified
documents.
On Monday,
in a post to his Truth Social platform, Trump complained of “Democrat D.A.’s
[sic], attorney generals and prosecutors” who he said were “very DANGEROUS to
the well being of our country”.
He also
said he was being “hit” to keep him from running for the White House, “and all
because I am leading by sooo much”.
Trump is
the only declared major candidate for the Republican nomination in 2024. His
only close rival in polling of the notional field, the governor of Florida, Ron
DeSantis, has led some surveys.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário