Donald Trump testifying in New York fraud case

Former President Donald Trump has arrived at the offices of New York’s attorney general for his second deposition in a civil case that accuses the ex-president and three of his children of business fraud tied.

The Republican was scheduled to meet lawyers for Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Trump last year with a lawsuit that claimed Trump and his family misled banks and business associates by giving them false information about his net worth and the value of assets, such as hotels and golf courses.

The lawsuit is unrelated to the felony criminal charges filed against Trump by the Manhattan district attorney, which led last week to his historic arraignment, the first for a former president. Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in that case, which relate to how he reimbursed his lawyer over hush-money payments made to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels.

Trump himself appeared to confirm Thursday’s deposition in the civil case in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.

He said would be “heading downtown to meet with a Racist who leaked that I would be there at 9:30 AM.”

He raised his fist as he left his apartment at Trump Tower, with his motorcade arriving at the attorney general’s office at about 9:42am (13:42 GMT).

James declined to answer a question about the deposition at a news conference on an unrelated matter on Wednesday.

Trump previously met James’s lawyers on August 10, but refused to answer all but a few procedural questions – invoking his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination more than 400 times.

“Anyone in my position not taking the Fifth Amendment would be a fool, an absolute fool,” he said in the session, which was recorded on video and later released publicly. Trump predicted a “renegade” prosecutor would try to make a criminal case out of his answers, if he were to give them.

“One statement or answer that is ever so slightly off, just ever so slightly, by accident, by mistake, such as it was a sunny, beautiful day, when actually it was slightly overcast, would be met by law enforcement at a level seldom seen in this country, because I’ve experienced it,” he said.

It is unclear whether Trump might answer any questions in this second deposition, which will be conducted in private if it takes place as planned.

A trial for the lawsuit is scheduled for October.

The lawsuit is one of several probes looking into the president. Beyond the New York criminal case, Trump also faces a criminal investigation in Georgia related to alleged attempts to overturn election results in the case. The Department of Justice is also probing classified documents found at Trump’s Florida estate, and his efforts to interfere with the 2020 election results.

-al jazeera