A lengthy civil investigation is being conducted into former President Donald Trump's business ties, specifically his narratives to lenders and government regulators about the value of his assets. On Wednesday morning, former President Trump arrived at the office of the New York Attorney General to give sworn testimony in connection with the investigation.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing, claimed that the United States government is deliberately targeting him, and stated that he will refuse to respond to questions, invoking his right under the Fifth Amendment not to implicate himself.
Trump showed up for the deposition two days after the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago home and beach club as a result of an inquiry into omitted data produced during his presidency and supposed to be catalogued with the National Archives by the Justice Department. The search was conducted as part of the investigation into missing records by the Justice Department.
On Monday, FBI investigators who had been searching President Trump's estate in accordance with a search warrant left with perhaps a dozen boxes. During the month of January, the former president delivered approximately 15 boxes to the archives, some of which included confidential information.
According to individuals who are familiar with the investigation but requested anonymity in order to disclose it, the Justice Department later became particularly worried that Trump or his staffers had kept confidential some government items in January and were also not being forthright in their discussions about the material with US authorities. These individuals spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation.
Trump criticized the Justice Department for requesting a search warrant when he made the announcement regarding the legal action at his home in Palm Beach, Florida. He said that he had been cooperating with police and that no official action was necessary because of this. The Presidential Records Act mandates the long-term storage of all records and communications of a presidential administration, including but not limited to memoranda, letters, emails, and other forms of written correspondence.
Since 2019, investigations, both criminal and civil, have been conducted into the business practices that Trump engaged in while employed by the Trump Organization prior to his election as President of the United States. It would appear that the criminal inquiry, which is being overseen by the New York District Attorney's Office, has come to a standstill. However, the inquiry into civil rights violations is still being carried out, and New York Attorney General Letitia James is in charge of it (D).
Due to the passing of their mother, Ivana Trump, on July 14, Trump's deposition, as well as the testimony of his daughter Ivanka Trump and son Donald Trump Jr., were both postponed.
Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., who both worked in the White House and functioned as executives in the family firm, are said to have been questioned by investigators in recent days, according to a person who is familiar with the inquiry. This individual indicated that they provided responses to queries.
The public disclosures made by James indicate that their brother Eric Trump, who was also a lieutenant in the company, invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 500 times when he sat for questioning in October 2020 regarding the same investigation. This information comes from the disclosures that James made publicly. When this event took place, the criminal investigation into Trump and the Trump Organization's business operations was still active and ongoing.
In a message that was published early on Wednesday on Trump's social media service, Truth Social, Trump extended his attacks on James' inquiry. He called the Black law enforcement official a "racist" and said that he was seeing her "for a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. History!"
If James, a Democrat, comes to the conclusion that the Trump Organization or any of its officials have broken the law, she may decide to bring a legal action against them.
Trump has accused her of spreading false information about him and his organization in order to win political points, citing comments James made while campaigning in which she promised to probe Trump and the Trump Organization. Trump has made these accusations multiple times.
According to statements made by Trump's attorneys, the valuation procedures that James is concerned about are industry-standard processes in the real estate sector.
According to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, there is currently a concurrent criminal investigation into those actions that is still continuing (D). However, the two prosecutors who were in charge of the probe resigned in protest earlier this year after learning that Bragg was against to pressing forward with an indictment. They found out that Bragg was opposed to moving forward with an indictment. After that, Bragg assigned one of the members of his executive team to take charge of the operation.
The investigation into the criminal matter was started by Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D), who succeeded Bragg but did not run for reelection. January saw Bragg take office as the new mayor. The Trump Organization and Trump's longstanding Chief Financial Officer, Allen Weisselberg, have both been accused in connection with an alleged decades-long tax evasion conspiracy at this point.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on The Daily Cable.