Former President Donald Trump will testify in New York on Thursday in Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million civil lawsuit alleging fraud in his real estate business practices.
The former president tweeted overnight that he had arrived in Manhattan for the deposition, which he called “another unjust & ridiculous persecution of The 45th President of the United States.”
Two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said the deposition would take place in the morning.
Trump previously sat for a deposition at the attorney general’s office in August, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination more than 400 times. The trial is set for October.
Trump’s appearance in New York comes after he pleaded not guilty last week to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to his role in hush money payments toward the end of his 2016 presidential campaign in a case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Separately, James filed a lawsuit last September against Trump, his three oldest children and the Trump Organization in connection with her office’s yearslong civil investigation into the company’s business practices.
The lawsuit accused Trump of making efforts to inflate his personal net worth to attract favorable loan agreements and alleges more than 200 instances of fraud over 10 years.
James is seeking to permanently bar the Trump family from serving as officers of New York-based companies and prevent Trump and his company from entering into commercial real estate acquisitions in the state for five years. She is also seeking about $250 million in penalties.
In March, Trump requested that a judge extend the deadline for fact discovery until late September and for expert witness discovery until December, arguing that the deadline that was set to complete that process — March 20 — was unfair and unrealistic given the “staggering” amount of evidence Trump’s legal team had to review from James’ office.
Last month, however, James urged the court to reject Trump’s attempt to delay the case, stating that she fears Trump will use his 2024 presidential run as an excuse to further try to postpone the trial.
Judge Arthur Engoron remains committed to an Oct. 2 trial date, but recently agreed to move some pretrial deadlines to allow lawyers more time to review evidence, interview witnesses and file motions, The Associated Press reported.
The Associated Press contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
