New York — Former US president Donald Trump said on Wednesday he refused to answer questions during an appearance before New York state’s attorney-general in a civil investigation into his family’s business practices, citing his constitutional right against self-incrimination.
Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr and daughter Ivanka Trump, had fought unsuccessfully to avoid appearing for testimony in state attorney-general Letitia James’s probe into whether the Trump Organization inflated real estate values to obtain favourable loans and understated asset values to get tax breaks.
“I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the US constitution,” Trump said in a statement issued roughly an hour after he arrived in a motorcade to the attorney-general’s office in lower Manhattan.
The constitution’s fifth amendment protects against self-incrimination. Trump’s decision not to answer questions still could carry consequences. Should the investigation lead to a trial, jurors could take his silence into account. Politically, it also could give adversaries ammunition about whether Trump has something to hide as he mulls another run for the presidency in 2024.
James has said her investigation has uncovered significant evidence that the Trump Organization, which manages hotels, golf courses and other real estate, gave banks and tax authorities misleading financial information to obtain benefits.
Trump, a Republican, in his statement again denied wrongdoing and sought to portray the investigation by James, a Democrat, as part of a years-long vendetta against him by her and others including the news media.
“I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the fifth amendment?’” Trump said in his statement. “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.”
Trump attempted to link the state attorney-general’s investigation to Monday’s FBI search of his Florida home Mar-a-Lago, which represented an escalation a federal probe into whether he illegally removed records from the White House as he left office in January 2021.
Neither a spokesperson for James nor a lawyer for Trump immediately responded to requests for comment.
Trump raised his fist as he left Trump Tower on Wednesday morning, wearing a blue suit with a flag pin on his lapel, before heading to the attorney-general’s office. New York City police officers and Secret Service personnel stood guard as the motorcade transporting Trump arrived.
Reporters and photographers were still waiting outside the offices to see Trump leave when his statement was issued.
Trump has in the past disparaged people for exercising their fifth amendment rights. In one example, he chided people who had exercised their fifth amendment rights in a probe relating to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server for official correspondence during her time as secretary of state. Clinton was Trump’s opponent in the presidential election that year.
Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump also testified in recent weeks in James’s probe, according to a person familiar with the matter. Reuters could not determine whether they also refused to answer questions. Their brother, Eric, invoked the fifth more than 500 times when he testified in October 2020.
Monday’s FBI search related to the National Archives and Records Administration, which safeguards presidential records that belong to the public, and whether classified documents were kept at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Trump has had a slew of legal troubles since he left office. He also continues to claim falsely that the 2020 election that he lost to Democrat Joe Biden was stolen through widespread voting fraud.
Reuters