A week after his historic indictment in another case, Donald Trump was heard all day Thursday, April 13, in New York, as part of a future civil trial where he is accused of fraud within the Trump Organization .
The former US president, who intends to win back the White House in 2024, responded under oath and out of sight in the offices of New York State Attorney General Letitia James, where he arrived around 10 hours, local time (4 p.m. in Paris), in a black vehicle, noted journalists from Agence France-Presse. Welcomed by a handful of supporters and opponents, kept at a distance by a security device, the Republican billionaire did not leave the building, located near Wall Street, until around 6 p.m. to return to the Trump Tower in a black vehicle. , further north on Manhattan Island.
The attorney general, elected under the Democratic label, filed a civil lawsuit in September against Donald Trump and three of his children, claiming $ 250 million in compensation and demanding against them prohibitions from running businesses. Letitia James accuses the Republican billionaire and his children of a “staggering fraud”in his words, having “deliberately” manipulated the valuations of the group’s assets to obtain more advantageous loans from the banks or to reduce its taxes.
A “ridiculous” affair
Golf clubs, Trump Tower in New York, Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida… the services of Letitia James listed these disputed assessments in a 222-page complaint, which also targets Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump. Hearings under oath and in camera may take place as part of the procedure, before the actual start of the trial, currently set for October. The 76-year-old billionaire had already responded to a summons last August, but had invoked throughout the hearing his right to remain silent, under the 5e amendment to the US Constitution.
Donald Trump has always refuted these irregularities. On his Truth Social network, he called the case a « ridicule », “like all the other cases of electoral interference of which I am the subject”. But the former president sees court cases pile up on the road to the primary for the Republican nomination. In addition to his historic indictment, criminal this time in early April in New York, Donald Trump also remains in the sights of justice for his alleged involvement in an attempt to turn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia in his favor, and on his role in the assault on the Capitol by his supporters, January 6, 2021.
In his post on Truth Social, Donald Trump also called “racist” Letitia James, an African-American prosecutor, as he calls “racist” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, also African-American. The latter charged him on April 4 with 34 alleged accounting and tax frauds, linked to payments to cover up three embarrassing affairs before the 2016 presidential election, including a sexual relationship with porn actress Stormy Daniels. he has always denied. This indictment was a first for a former US president.