Donald Trump once said a very clever phrase a while back: “If you’re innocent, why are you claiming the Fifth Amendment?” The Fifth Amendment is the legal bundle that allows suspects in a US investigation to refuse to testify so as not to incriminate themselves. Trump is currently one such suspect. New York Attorney General Letitia James accuses the entrepreneur of cooking up the figures for his real estate group for years and systematically defrauding banks, insurance companies and the tax authorities. This Wednesday, the former US President was summoned to James to answer questions under oath. Trump, however, made use of the Fifth Amendment.
The investigation was triggered by statements by his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who had heavily incriminated his former client in front of a congressional committee in 2019. According to Cohen, the Trump Organization repeatedly misrepresented the values of the group’s hotels, office buildings, golf clubs and other properties in official documents – and in two ways: to get more loans from the few remaining house banks or in the billionaire lists of US business magazines to slide upwards, the company patriarch apparently systematically inflated the value of individual properties. Conversely, he is said to have given the tax office much lower ratings in order to save taxes. In addition to James’ civil investigation, there is also a criminal case against the company and its decision makers in the Manhattan borough of New York.
While Trump’s adult children Donald jr. and Ivanka had apparently answered questions from the public prosecutor’s office in the past few days, the ex-president now rejected this. However, apparently aware that there is some discrepancy between his refusal and his previous statements, he sent a written statement shortly after arriving at the prosecutor’s office. He now knows the answer to the question of why an innocent person should refuse any testimony, he wrote. “When your family, your business, and everyone in your orbit becomes the target of an unfounded, politically motivated witch hunt backed by lawyers, law enforcement, and the fake news media, you have no choice.” The government of his successor, Joe Biden, and many of the country’s investigators had “lost all morals and all bounds of decency.” On the advice of his lawyers and for the reasons mentioned, he is therefore claiming the rights “that every citizen is entitled to under the United States Constitution”.
The real estate entrepreneur faces a whole bundle of penalties and sanctions
Trump is currently struggling with several investigations and allegations. A congressional committee accuses him of being largely to blame for the violent occupation of the Capitol on January 6 last year. On Monday, FBI officers also searched his Mar-a-Lago, Florida home on suspicion that the ex-president may have illegally taken or destroyed classified White House documents. Trump’s current refusal to testify could also take revenge on him: Unlike in a criminal trial, the jury in a civil trial may well consider it an incriminating indication if an accused refuses to answer questions.
However, it is still unclear whether such a civil trial will take place. Experts assume that James will complete their investigation, which has been ongoing since 2019, this year. As can be seen from a 115-page overview of the results of the investigation so far, Trump and his children apparently used numerous tricks to conceal their true financial circumstances. For example, the company boss is said to have given the floor space of his penthouse grossly incorrectly. In addition, he reported liquid funds that did not belong to him as his own “cash”. James said weeks ago that she had evidence that the Trump Organization was “using fraudulent and misleading asset valuations to gain economic advantage.”
If the former reality TV star were actually convicted of the allegations, the authorities could ban him from doing business in New York, fire managers and demand a refund of unjustly pocketed profits. If convicted, Trump could even face imprisonment or the forced liquidation of his company. Prosecutors are also investigating hush money payments that attorney Cohen says gave two women. Both had stated that they had an affair with Trump, which had temporarily burdened the 2016 election campaign of the then Republican presidential candidate.