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Donald Trump has said that he refused to answer questions under oath during an appearance before the New York state attorney general in an investigation into his business dealings.
The former US President had appeared at state Attorney General Letitia James’s offices on Wednesday morning to testify in a long-running civil probe of the Trump Organisation’s finances, reports Aljazeera.
In a statement Trump said, “I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.”
The Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution grants the right to remain silent when questioned by authorities to protect against self-incrimination.
Trump’s deposition in New York came less than two days after FBI agents searched his home in Florida as part of a separate investigation looking into possible mishandling of classified documents by the former president.
The New York attorney general launched the civil investigation in 2019 after Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen testified in Congress that the ex-president exaggerated his assets “when it served his purposes”.
James has said in court filings that her office has uncovered “significant” evidence that Trump’s company “used fraudulent or misleading asset valuations to obtain a host of economic benefits, including loans, insurance coverage, and tax deductions.”
On Wednesday, Trump reiterated that he did “nothing wrong”, stressing – without evidence – that federal authorities, state prosecutors and what he called the “fake news media” are targeting him with unfounded accusations.
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul
