New York State Attorney General Letitia James (D) is planning on subpoenaing former President Donald Trump for a deposition in January as part of her ongoing civil investigation into the Trump Organization.
Trump’s company is suspected by James and New York City District Attorney Cy Vance – who is conducting his own criminal probe – of having committed decades of fraud, ranging from fudging the values of various real estate holdings to secure financing to skirting tax obligations.
New York prosecutors are looking at financial statements of several Trump properties to see if the valuations were manipulated to benefit Trump.
Trump’s ex-personal attorney Michael Cohen, who last month finished serving a three-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to eight federal charges that included campaign finance violations, his role in Trump’s schemes and lying to Congress about them, admitted under oath during his trial in 2018 that the crimes in which he participated were committed at the behest of Trump.
Representatives for Trump and the Trump Organization said in a statement that the investigations are, as Trump has historically claimed whenever he or his interests are a target of purported wrongdoing, a politically-motivated sham.
“This is another political witch-hunt,” they said. “The only focus of the New York AG is to investigate Trump, all for her own political ambitions … This political prosecution is illegal, unethical and is a travesty to our great state and legal system.”
If Trump refuses to cooperate, which is likely, James could seek an injunction from the courts to compel Trump to testify. Even then, however, Trump, who has not yet been directly implicated in the scandals, could assert his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
