OAN Brooke Mallory
UPDATED 12:25 PM – Tuesday, April 11, 2023
In connection with New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million civil fraud action, former President Donald Trump is due back in New York City on Thursday, according to sources familiar with the situation who spoke to the press.
The 34 counts of felony fraud that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg filed against Trump last week are unrelated to James’ probe. This fresh deposition with Trump is scheduled to take place at the attorney general’s downtown office.
James (D-N.Y.) filed her lawsuit accusing Trump, his eldest children, and his corporation of falsely inflating the value of the Trump real estate holdings and his net worth. Trump had testified in an hours-long deposition in August.
Following the filing of the complaint, the attorney general’s office has the right to depose pertinent parties as part of the discovery procedure.
According to James, Trump’s children “helped him to inflate his net worth by billions of dollars.”
The former president’s two oldest children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., have already previously testified in the case.
In the past, James also filed numerous lawsuits against the Trump administration when he was president, criticizing his stances on the environment, immigration, education, healthcare, and other topics.
With the exception of confirming that he was aware of the procedures and rules, the former president did not respond to several inquiries during the initial deposition.
Kevin Wallace, the attorney general’s senior counsel, questioned Trump on his preparation for the deposition and Trump reportedly responded saying, “Very little.”
The lawsuit alleges that Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida residence and golf course, should have been valued at only $75 million and not as expensive as it was at $739 million dollars. Trump is also being accused of overvaluing other properties like his residence in Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street, his Scotland golf course, and Trump Turnberry Hotel & Resort.
The former president regularly cited the Fifth Amendment and continued to do so for the following several hours when questioned about his finances.
Originally, Trump had countersued James for bringing the case against him. However, after receiving a tip from U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks that the case appeared to be bordering on frivolous, Trump dismissed it in January.
James came under fire recently from some Twitter users online for tweeting: “Trans men are men. Trans women are women. Non-binary people are non-binary. The trans and non-binary communities deserve to be seen, heard, and valued in every corner of our country. #TransDayOfInvisibility.”
The message and timing came off as extremely tone-deaf, considering that a transgender person named Audrey Hale had just shot and killed 6 people at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, only a few days earlier. Hale’s manifesto has yet to be released.
The civil lawsuit is set for October 2nd. Attorneys for Trump have attempted to postpone the date several times but Arthur Engoron, the state court judge presiding over the case, has consistently refused their requests.
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