Former US President Donald Trump. Reuters.
Former US president Donald Trump is scheduled to return to New York on Thursday for a deposition in a business fraud lawsuit filed against him and his company by the state’s attorney general, according to a person familiar with the matter.
It will be Trump’s first trip to New York City since his arraignment last week on felony charges in a separate criminal case involving hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign to bury claims of extramarital sexual encounters that Trump says never happened.
Trump is expected to face questioning at New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office in lower Manhattan, according to an Associated Press report.
‘Politically motivated witch hunt’
Trump previously sat for a deposition at James’ office last August, just weeks before she filed the lawsuit. That time, Trump declined to answer questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination more than 400 times.
Trump said he did so because he believed the investigation was part of a “politically motivated Witch Hunt.”
Trump Organization accused of misleading banks
James’ lawsuit alleges that Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, misled banks and others, in part by providing them with annual financial statements that misstated the value of prized assets, including golf courses and hotels bearing his name.
James, a Democrat, is seeking $250 million and a ban on Trump, a Republican, doing business in the state.
The judge in the case, Arthur Engoron, remains committed to a 2 October trial date, but agreed recently to move some pretrial deadlines to allow lawyers more time to review evidence, interview witnesses and file motions. Trump’s deposition is part of that process.
Engoron has scheduled a hearing for April 21 to resolve a dispute over the scheduling of a deposition for Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen.
“This case is complex, but it is not complicated. Essentially, it all boils down to whether (Trump’s) statements of financial interest are true or false,” Engoron said at a March 21 hearing.
This week’s deposition and the ongoing civil and criminal cases aren’t the only legal troubles Trump is facing in New York.
A federal judge on Monday issued an order asking if Trump plans to attend a trial this month in a civil lawsuit resulting from columnist E. Jean Carroll’s claims that he raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. The trial is scheduled to start on 25 April in Manhattan federal court.
With inputs from AP
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