Trump insists.

Former Republican President Donald Trump was heard under oath on Wednesday August 10 as part of a civil investigation into suspicions of financial fraud within his Trump Organization group.

Questioned by the office of the Attorney General of New York, he indicated that he refused to answer questions from justice, in the midst of a political storm after a spectacular search by the FBI at his home in Florida.

Claiming to be once again the victim of a "witch hunt", Donald Trump "refused to answer questions under the rights and prerogatives granted to every citizen by the Constitution of the United States", according to his press release.

Hours earlier, the former president wrote on his Truth Social that he was "in the lavish, beautiful, expensive office of the Attorney General (Letitia James). Great working conditions as people get killed in New York and that she devotes her time and effort to trying to 'catch Trump'."

On this same media, Donald Trump announced Tuesday night that he had arrived in New York to "see the racist New York Attorney General tomorrow for the continuation of the greatest witch hunt in United States history".

“My wonderful business and I are under attack from all sides,” he added, saying that the United States governed by Democrat Joe Biden was akin to a “Banana Republic”.

"Most Corrupt"

In the same vein, one of his sons, Eric Trump, wrote on Twitter that his "father (was going to) sit down for a deposition in front of the most corrupt of the attorneys general of the United States", again accusing the African-American Democratic magistrate Letitia James to embody "evil".

The attorney general's office did not respond to AFP's requests.

The businessman and two of his children, Donald Jr and Ivanka Trump, finally gave in to pressure after three years of investigation by Letitia James.

According to CNN, Ivanka and Donald Jr had discreetly been heard by the services of the Attorney General in late July and early August.

Fraud

The civil investigation against the Trump Organization family group was opened in March 2019, after the explosive testimony in Congress in Washington by one of Donald Trump's former personal lawyers, Michael Cohen.

The latter reported fraudulent assessments, upwards or downwards, of assets within the Trump Organization, to obtain loans, obtain tax reductions or better insurance compensation.

Letitia James assured in January that she had “uncovered significant evidence suggesting that Donald Trump and the Trump Organization had falsely and fraudulently valued the number of assets”, in particular golf courses or the personal triplex of the American billionaire, located in the Trump Tower in New York.

The Attorney General does not have the power to indict Donald Trump but she can initiate civil proceedings and in particular claim financial damages.

The alleged facts are also the subject of an investigation, criminal this time, led by Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg.

FBI raid

The investigation into the Trump Organization is unrelated to the FBI's search of Donald Trump's Florida residence on Monday.

In Mar-a-Lago, investigators were looking for classified documents the former president allegedly took with him when he left the White House in January 2021.

This triggered a wave of indignation among Republicans.

The former president even suggested on Truth Social that the FBI may have "placed" evidence against him during the operation.

Never had a former tenant of the White House been worried by justice in this way.

Donald Trump, who ostensibly flirts with a new candidacy in 2024, claims his innocence in each of these cases.

With AFP & Reuters

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