Former President Donald Trump landed in New York on Thursday to be questioned by the state’s attorney general in a $250 million civil fraud lawsuit against him, he claimed in a series of midnight social media posts.
The deposition will be private and unlikely to get the same attention as his surrender on unrelated criminal charges last week.
Trump, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, will be questioned about his business practices by New York Attorney General Letitia James in Lower Manhattan. He and others are accused of a decade-long plan to falsify property valuations and net worth to get loans and tax breaks.
The trial begins on October 2. If Trump doesn’t present at trial, Thursday’s deposition might be used to undermine his testimony.
Trump faces the New York attorney general again. Before the case was filed, Trump claimed the Fifth Amendment almost 400 times in August. After bringing the complaint, legal experts argue the attorney general is entitled to a deposition.
“I will finally be able to show what a great, profitable, and valuable company I built,” Trump wrote on Truth Social early Thursday, after attacking the attorney general and her “persecution,” the judge, and the district attorney who brought the criminal charges. After his April 4 capitulation, Trump returned to Florida. He was charged with paying a porn star hush money before the 2016 election to keep her quiet about a sexual encounter.
Trump pled not guilty to the accusations. He stated the sexual contact did not take place. It marked the first time a U.S. president has been legally indicted while in office or subsequently.
Trump also faces federal investigations from his management of government materials after leaving the White House, his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and a state-level review in Georgia into whether he unlawfully tried to change the 2020 election results.
A trial in New York federal court on April 25 will determine whether Trump defamed former Elle magazine journalist E. Jean Carroll by denying raping her.
Trump is hoping to delay that trial.
