Newsman: Former President Donald Trump answered questions for nearly seven hours Thursday during his second deposition in a legal battle with New York’s attorney general over his company’s business practices.
After the deposition was finished, a lawyer for Trump’s businesses, Christopher Kise, said the former president had spent nearly seven hours “describing in detail his extraordinary business success.” The two sides took a break for lunch.
“The transactions at the center of this case were wildly profitable for the banks and for the Trump entities,” Kise said. “When the facts of this success, and not politically engineered soundbites, are out in the open, everyone will scoff at the notion any fraud took place.”
Shortly after Trump entered the New York’s attorney general James’ offices, his attorney, Alina Habba, said he was “not only willing but also eager to testify.”
Former President testified after reversing an earlier decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and remain silent.
The lawsuit is unrelated to the felony criminal charges filed against Trump by the Manhattan district attorney.
James declined to answer a question about the deposition at a news conference on an unrelated matter Wednesday. The lawsuit James brought is scheduled to go to trial in October. Video recordings of Trump’s depositions could potentially be played at the trial, if the lawsuit is not settled.
Thursday’s deposition was conducted in private.
Trump previously met with James’ lawyers Aug. 10, but refused to answer all but a few procedural questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights more than 400 times. At the time, James had not yet brought her lawsuit and it was unclear whether questions about the way Trump valued his company would become the basis of a criminal case.
“Anyone in my position not taking the Fifth Amendment would be a fool, an absolute fool,” he said in that deposition, which was recorded on video and later released publicly. Trump predicted a “renegade” prosecutor would try to make a criminal case out of his answers, if he gave them.
“One statement or answer that is ever so slightly off, just ever so slightly, by accident, by mistake, such as it was a sunny, beautiful day, when actually it was slightly overcast, would be met by law enforcement at a level seldom seen in this country, because I’ve experienced it,” he said.
James’ lawsuit focused on allegations that Trump lied repeatedly about his own wealth and exaggerated the value of his assets on financial statements.
In a social media post Thursday morning, Trump called the suit “ridiculous, just like all of the other Election Interference cases being brought against me.”
