Trump to testify under oath in New York fraud lawsuit

NEW YORK: Donald Trump was back in New York on Thursday to answer questions in a civil case accusing the ex-president and three of his children of business fraud.

The behind-closed-doors deposition 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 fist as he left Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue shortly after 9:30 am (1330 GMT), arriving at James´s office in lower Manhattan around 10:00 am. “This civil case is ridiculous, just like all of the other Election Interference cases being brought against me,” he wrote on his social media site Truth Social.

James sued Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump in September last year alleging they committed “incredible” fraud at the Trump Organisation. Her lawsuit asserts that they lied to tax collectors, lenders and insurers for years in a scheme that routinely misstated the value of the organization´s properties to enrich themselves.

James said they provided fraudulent statements of Trump´s net worth and false asset valuations “to obtain and satisfy loans, get 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 six hours of questioning in the probe last August, shortly before James filed her lawsuit.