Donald Trump returned to New York on Thursday to answer questions in a civil case. (file)
New York:
Donald Trump was back in New York on Thursday to answer questions in a civil case accusing the former president and his three children of business fraud.
The closed-door statement comes a week after Trump’s historic arraignment on criminal charges in a Manhattan courtroom in a separate case.
The 76-year-old Republican was to be questioned under oath in the lawsuit brought by New York State Attorney General Letitia James.
Trump pumped his fists as he left Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue shortly after 9:30 a.m. (1330 GMT), arriving at James’ office in lower Manhattan at 10:00 a.m.
“This civil case is ridiculous, just like all the other election interference cases being brought against me,” he wrote on his social media site Truth Social.
Ms James sued Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump last September, alleging they committed “incredible” fraud at the Trump Organisation.
His lawsuit claims he lied to tax collectors, lenders and insurers for years in a scheme that regularly falsified the value of the organization’s assets to enrich himself.
James said he provided fraudulent statements of Trump’s net worth and false asset valuations “in order to obtain and satisfy loans, obtain insurance benefits, and pay lower taxes.”
Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in next year’s presidential election, has used his common refrain of “witch hunt” to describe the case.
He appeared for a six-hour questioning at the inquiry last August, shortly before Ms James filed her suit.
In a dramatic court appearance last Tuesday that transfixed the nation, Trump pleaded guilty to 34 felony counts related to secret money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election that brought him to power.
He became the first former or current president to ever be charged with a crime.
That case was almost unanimously criticized by Republican officials, including congressional leaders, who asked Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, to testify about the investigation before Congress.
James, who is also an elected Democrat, has requested that Trump pay at least $250 million in penalties – the amount he allegedly made from the fraud – and that his family be barred from running businesses in the state. Let’s do.
No criminal charges could result from her case, which is expected to come to trial later this year.
Trump faces multiple state, federal and congressional investigations that threaten to complicate his bid to regain the presidency.
They include his efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss in the state of Georgia, his alleged mishandling of classified documents taken from the White House, and his participation in the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The civil trial for a sexual harassment and defamation lawsuit against Trump brought by former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll is set to begin later this month in New York.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)