Donald Trump announces he declined to answer questions from the New York attorney general's office
Eva Deschamps / August 11, 2022
Donald Trump left Wednesday without saying a word after a six-hour hearing at the New York State Attorney General's office, as part of a civil investigation into suspected financial fraud within his family group.
The convoy of black SUVs carrying the former president of the United States left the south of Manhattan around 15:00under the eyes of journalists, supporters and onlookers armed with their cell phones that Donald Trump greeted behind the smoked windows of his vehicle.
Arrived around 13H00 GMT at the office of the Attorney General Letitia James, the billionaire kept silent by invoking the famous 5th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which allows not to testify against himself.
In a statement in the morning, Mr. Trump had said he was once again the victim of a witch hunt and had claimed to have refused to answer questions, under the rights and prerogatives granted to any citizen by the Constitution of the United States.
The 45th U.S. president has been targeted since 2019 - along with two of his children, Ivanka and Donald Jr - by a civil investigation of the highest magistrate of the state of New York.
The investigations against the Trump Organization family group were launched after the explosive testimony to Congress in Washington of one of Donald Trump's former personal lawyers, Michael Cohen, alleging fraudulent valuations, upwards or downwards, of assets within the Trump Organization, in order to obtain loans, tax breaks or better insurance compensation.
Letitia James had assured in January to have uncovered significant evidence that Donald Trump and the Trump Organization had falsely and fraudulently valued many assets, including golf courses or the personal triplex of the American billionaire, located in the Trump Tower in New York.
Allegations swept aside by Donald Trump's lawyers.
The attorney general does not have the power to indict the Trumps, but she can bring civil suits, including seeking financial reparations.
The hearing came two days after an unprecedented FBI search of Donald Trump's home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, which sparked a wave of outrage among Republicans.