Donald Trump answered questions for seven hours Thursday during a deposition called for by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The former president has been impeached for a second time as part of a $250 million fraud case in which he is accused of falsifying the value of his property and that seeks to ban him from doing business in New York state.
Trump’s lawyer said he was “eager to testify” to clear his name of the allegations and that he had “nothing to hide”.
Trump was photographed leaving Trump Tower in Manhattan at around 9:30 a.m. before traveling in a motorcade to the attorney general’s office, where prosecutors questioned him throughout the day.
His cooperation marks a departure from his approach during the first filing last August in which he pledged the Fifth Amendment 400 times and said he would be “an absolute fool” not to do so.
However, the circumstances were different after that, as James had not yet filed a formal case against him. I did it a month later in September – and a trial is due in October.
Donald Trump answered questions for seven hours Thursday during a deposition provided by New York Attorney General Letitia James
He was photographed leaving Trump Tower in Manhattan at around 9:30 a.m. before traveling by motorcade to the offices of AG Letitia James
The lawsuit accuses Trump, the Trump Organization and three of his children — Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump — of providing false financial statements to lenders and business partners.
His three children were also removed by the attorney general’s office before that last year — both Ivanka and Trump Jr. answered prosecutors’ questions, but Eric called out the fifth.
James alleges that as part of a scheme that went on for more than a decade, the Trump family and his organization misrepresented their net worth and the value of their assets, including hotels and golf courses.
Shortly after Trump entered the Manhattan skyscraper that houses James’ offices on Thursday, his attorney, Alina Heba, said he was “not only willing to testify, but also eager to do so.”
“He remains firm in his stance that he has nothing to hide, and looks forward to making the Attorney General aware of the tremendous success of his multi-billion dollar company,” Haba said in a statement.
The lawsuit is unrelated to the criminal charges filed by the Manhattan District Attorney against Trump, which last week led to a landmark trial, the first for a former president.
In a social media post Thursday morning, Trump called the suit “ridiculous, just like all the other election interference cases against me.”
New York AG Letitia James (pictured September 2022) alleges that as part of a scheme that lasted more than a decade, the Trump family and his organization misrepresented their net worth and the value of their assets, including hotels and golf courses.
Trump’s lawyer said he was ‘eager to testify’ to clear his name of the allegations and that he had ‘nothing to hide’
He raised his fist as he left his Trump Tower apartment in the morning, arriving in motorcade to the attorney general’s office around 9.40am.
Both sides had been sitting for over seven hours and also took a break for lunch – he left in the motorcade just before 6.15pm and did not stop to speak to reporters.
James declined to answer a question about the testimony at a news conference on an unrelated matter on Wednesday.
In the first filing on Aug. 10 last year, Trump met with James’ attorney but refused to answer all but a few procedural questions.
At the time, James had not filed her lawsuit and it was not clear whether questions about how Trump values his company would become the basis for a criminal case.
In that filing, he said, “Anyone in my position who does not take the Fifth Amendment would be an idiot, an absolute idiot.”
It was recorded on videotape and later released to the public. Trump predicted that a “dissident” attorney general would try to make a criminal case out of his answers, if he provided them.
Former President Donald Trump’s motorcade arrives at the Attorney General’s office building for depositions at a civil investigation in New York on Thursday
His cooperation marks a departure from his approach during the first deposit, as he defended the fifth more than 400 times
One phrase or answer that is a little bit off, very slightly, by chance, by mistake, like it was a beautiful sunny day, when it was actually a little overcast, is rarely met with by law enforcement. I saw it in this country, because I tried it.
Circumstances have changed since then. The criminal charges brought by the Manhattan attorney general centered on how the company internally accounted for payments made by attorney Michael Cohen for his work paying people not to go public with stories of extramarital sexual encounters that Trump said never happened.
The suit, which James filed, is scheduled to go to trial on October 2 and will be heard by New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron.
Trump has two other ongoing cases.
He faces 34 felony counts related to hush money payments to Stormy Daniels as well as a sexual assault and defamation trial brought by columnist E Jean Carroll.
