The New York Attorney General has asked a judge to impose sanctions on former US President Donald Trump, his adult children, the Trump Organization and their lawyers. She does so because of their “demonstrably incorrect” answers to her $250 million fraud case against them. New video footage released shows Trump invoking his right to remain silent 400 times during an interrogation last summer.
“On the advice of my advisers, I decline to answer the questions based on the rights granted to every citizen by the Constitution of the United States,” Trump replied as he began his hearing around 9:45 a.m. on August 10, 2022. “That will be my answer to all the following questions.” Five hours later, Trump is still in the interrogation room, eventually saying “same answer” 400 times.
“This is a vindictive and selfish thing that may have never happened in this country before,” Trump also said. “Anyone in my position not to observe the Fifth Amendment (which gives witnesses in a trial the right not to incriminate themselves, ed.) would be a fool, an absolute fool.”
Fraud
The lawsuit filed by Attorney General Letitia James accuses Trump and the others of being involved in a decade-long scheme to manipulate the value of the Trump Organization to get banks and insurers to provide better terms.
On January 26, Trump, three of his children and their lawyers again filed formal responses denying everything or claiming insufficient knowledge of dozens of substantive allegations, as often in similar lawsuits. In a letter to the Manhattan judge overseeing the case, Arthur Engoron, James now says many of the answers were “demonstrably false,” frivolous, or inappropriate. She is asking for sanctions for Trump and the others.
“The court has already admonished the defendants and their counsel for their continued appeal to baseless legal claims, but used its discretion not to impose sanctions yet,” James writes. “It doesn’t seem like this has changed anything.”
According to James, one of the “inappropriate comments” was Trump’s opposition to being described as an “inactive chairman” of the Trump Organization during his tenure as US president, even though he himself had used that description in an October 2021 sworn statement.
Trump’s daughter Ivanka has been criticized by James for stating that she did not know if she had met bankers in person, and for not being able to confirm the contents of her own emails. James also rejected the arguments of Donald Trump and his sons Donald Jr. and Eric that she had no legal standing and “acted contrary to the old and customary norms”. Earlier they had already complained of “a political witch hunt”, a description that was rejected by Oversight Judge Engoron.
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