Under oath for hours, Trump gives 'same answer', derides civil inquiry

NEW YORK • Mr Donald Trump has long derided public figures who invoke their constitutional right against self incrimination, but on Wednesday he took full advantage of the Fifth Amendment.

For hours under oath, Mr Trump sat across from New York state attorney-general Letitia James, responding to every question posed by her investigators by repeating the phrase "same answer" over and over again.

Mr Trump's refusal to respond substantively to any questions in the court-ordered deposition was an unexpected twist that could determine the course of Ms James' three-year civil investigation into whether the former president fraudulently inflated the value of his assets to secure loans and other benefits.

It was also an extraordinary moment in an extraordinary week, even by the former president's standards. Two days after his home was searched by the FBI in an unrelated investigation, Mr Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment right while openly questioning the legitimacy of the legal process - as he has with the nation's electoral system - and insulting a law enforcement official sitting just a few feet away.

Mr Trump's only detailed comment, people with knowledge of the proceeding said, was an all-out attack on the attorney-general and her inquiry, which he called a continuation of "the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country".

"I once asked, 'If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?'" he said while reading from a prepared statement, which overlapped significantly with one he released to the public. "I now know the answer to that question."

He said that he was being targeted by lawyers, prosecutors and the news media, and that left him with "absolutely no choice" but to do so.

And while declining to answer questions might have offered the safest route for the former president, it could strengthen Ms James' hand in the weeks to come. In a statement on Wednesday, a spokesman for Ms James said, "Attorney-General James will pursue the facts and the law wherever they may lead. Our investigation continues."

The encounter, the first time the former president had faced off directly with Ms James, who has become his chief antagonist in New York, came at a particularly perilous moment for Mr Trump.

On Monday, the FBI searched his Florida home and private club in Palm Beach, Florida, as part of an investigation into sensitive material that he took when he left the White House. The search was an embarrassing reminder of the multiple inquiries swirling around the former president in connection with his conduct in the final weeks of his presidency.

In addition to the investigation that triggered the FBI's search, federal prosecutors are questioning witnesses about his involvement in efforts to reverse his election loss; a House select committee held a series of hearings tying him more closely to the Jan 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol; and a district attorney in Georgia is investigating potential election interference on the part of Mr Trump and his allies.

Ms James is conducting a civil inquiry, and she cannot file criminal charges against the former president. But the Manhattan district attorney's office has been conducting a parallel criminal investigation into whether Mr Trump fraudulently inflated valuations of his properties. That investigation factored into Mr Trump's decision not to respond to questions, a person with knowledge of his thinking said. Any misstep could have breathed new life into that inquiry, which lost momentum earlier this year.

NYTIMES