Donald Trump is set to make a quick return to New York to give a deposition in a lawsuit brought by New York attorney general Letitia James.
This will be the second time he will give a deposition in the case. The first one was in August last year when he refused to answer any questions citing the Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination.
At the time, Mr Trump said the investigation was a politically-motivated “witch hunt” against him.
This will be the former president’s first trip to New York since his arraignment last week on 34 felony counts of falsification of business records in a Manhattan criminal case related to hush money payments made before the 2016 election.
Ms James has sued the former president, his three eldest adult children, and a host of companies, organisations and persons associated with his real estate and licensing business, following a three-year civil investigation into allegations of fraud.
Across more than 200 pages, following interviews with 65 witnesses and reviews of millions of documents, the attorney general alleges the former president and his business empire falsely inflated the value of his net worth by billions of dollars in an effort to gain tax benefits and other benefits from insurers and financial institutions.
Ms James said the twice-impeached ex-president “cheated all of us” by inflating his net worth “to unjustly enrich himself and to cheat the system”.
Arthur Engoron, the judge in the case, said last month: “This case is complex, but it is not complicated. Essentially, it all boils down to whether (Trump’s) statements of financial interest are true or false.”
The civil case is scheduled to go to trial on 2 October. The judge has rejected repeated attempts by Mr Trump’s attorneys to push that date back.
