Former President Trump said he had no other choice, as he avoids all questions in the investigation despite claiming his allegations are fake.Â
During a scheduled deposition on Wednesday, Donald Trump cited the Fifth Amendment and refused to respond to inquiries from the attorney general of New York.
In an effort to avoid answering questions, he invoked the fifth amendment 440 times.
“Under the advice of my counsel and for all of the above reasons, I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution,” said Trump.
Trump kept his appointment with New York Attorney General Letitia James in Manhattan for a prominent and risky legal interview that will rule the course of a civil investigation into his company’s business tactics and whether he has embezzled tax breaks, but he flatly refused to answer questions from James’ office.
This was a calculated and yet unexpected gamble.
Trump has termed the civil investigation a witch hunt and has denied any misconduct.
In the course of the testimony, Trump only provided a single response, his name, and then asserted the Fifth Amendment in response to each subsequent query.
In a statement, Trump criticized Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, and the probe in general.
“Years of work and tens of millions of dollars have been spent on this long-simmering saga, and to no avail,” said Trump.
“I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution,” he added in the statement.
Just days before his deposition, the FBI issued an unprecedented search warrant at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, allegedly tied to another inquiry into his handling of confidential information.
While the Manhattan District Attorney’s Department is conducting a parallel investigation that may lead to criminal charges, the attorney general’s inquiry is civil in nature.
Legal experts speculate that the reason Trump chose not to respond to questions on Wednesday was to avoid having his responses used against him in the criminal probe.
According to Trump’s attorney Ronald Fischetti, the interview lasted almost four hours and was interspersed with long intervals.
After the investigation is complete, the state attorney general may decide to initiate legal action to demand financial penalties against Trump or his company.
While the Trump family rejected invitations through the New York court system for more than six months, James sought Trump’s testimony in addition to the depositions of two of his children, Ivanka, and Donald Trump Jr.
Trump’s legal team reportedly tried to pursue legal action against James in an attempt to deter her from questioning the former president and his kids.
However, a judge for the New York Supreme Court ordered in February that all three must appear. Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka were interrogated earlier this month.
Although, according to Judge Arthur Engoron, if the Trumps pleaded the Fifth Amendment, their reluctance to provide a response could not be used against them in any criminal prosecution.
Information on the issued search warrant that the FBI used has not been made public by the Department of Justice.
Legal authorities claim that Trump’s attorneys have a copy of the search warrant and are free to make public its details if they so want.
The warrant would specify what the FBI was searching for and why it thought there was a good chance that a felony or multiple offenses had been conducted that were connected to the evidence. A document justifying the request would go into more detail.
Trump’s campaign, though, does not intend to make the warrant public. Numerous state and federal investigations are focusing on Trump, his family, and his business.
President Joe Biden has been accused by several Republicans of ordering the FBI search. However, the White House has emphasized that it does not meddle or influence the inquiries conducted by the Department of Justice.
