OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump is headed back to New York City, but for a different case against him.
Trump will return to New York City this week to face questioning regarding Attorney General Letitia James’ fraud lawsuit against him and the Trump Organization. Reports suggest the 45th president will be in NYC on Thursday to face questions in James’ office in Manhattan.
“James’ investigation is separate from the 34 counts of felony fraud that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg leveled against Trump last week. Thursday will be the second time the former president has sat down for questioning from James. He also appeared for a deposition with her office in the weeks leading up to her lawsuit late last year. In that instance, he refused to answer any questions, repeatedly invoking his Fifth Amendment rights,” Fox News reported.
“James, a Democrat, has been investigating Trump since she took office in January 2019. She brought a lawsuit against Trump in September alleging he and his company misled banks and others about the value of his assets. James’ claimed that Trump and his children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric, as well as his associates and businesses, allegedly committed ‘numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation’ regarding financial statements,” the outlet added.
James alleges that Trump “inflated his net worth by billions of dollars” and claims his children helped him in doing so.
When Trump was president, James, a Democrat, sued his administration dozens of times over policies on education, immigration, healthcare, the environment, and other issues.
The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government.
You tell me if Letitia James is bias and should be disbarred
Please ReTweet to expose the witch hunt pic.twitter.com/4dRZWUe6TG
— 🦅 Eagle Wings 🦅 (@CRRJA5) April 3, 2023
Donald Trump is set to make a return to New York to give a deposition in a lawsuit brought by NY AG Letitia James.https://t.co/qJ1gdqytlp
— BG 🇺🇸 (@suggmmaa) April 11, 2023
The latest developments come after Trump appeared in Manhattan last week for his arraignment in the case brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 charges regarding allegations that he falsified business records related to adult film star Stormy Daniels’ hush-money case.
Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in a case involving his purported role in hush money payments to Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, allegedly to keep Daniels quiet about an affair the two of them had in 2006.
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul took Bragg to task after Trump was indicted, saying Bragg could be forced out of office and into court himself.
“Wonder if DA Bragg remembers Durham DA Mike Nifong who withheld exculpatory DNA tests on the Duke lacrosse players. He was subsequently forced out of office, disbarred, and convicted of contempt of court,” Paul said, referring to Nifong, the district attorney in the 2006 case accusing Duke University lacrosse players of rape. The three players were exonerated and Nifong even spent one day in jail.
“A Trump indictment would be a disgusting abuse of power. The DA should be put in jail,” Paul said in a separate statement just before news late last week about the indictment.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy declared that Congress will take action after Trump appeared in Manhattan on Tuesday for his arraignment in the case brought against him by Bragg.
John Bolton — who served as a national security adviser in the Trump administration and has since come out against Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign — appeared on CNN and blasted the charges filed against his ex-boss, former President Trump, saying the indictment was “even weaker than I feared it would be.”
“Speaking as someone who very strongly does not want Donald Trump to get the Republican presidential nomination, I’m extraordinarily distressed by this document,” Bolton said on CNN. “I think this is even weaker than I feared it would be.”
Notorious anti-Trump GOP Sen. Mitt Romney issued a statement saying: “I believe President Trump’s character and conduct make him unfit for office. Even so, I believe the New York prosecutor has stretched to reach felony criminal charges in order to fit a political agenda. No one is above the law, not even former presidents, but everyone is entitled to equal treatment under the law. The prosecutor’s overreach sets a dangerous precedent for criminalizing political opponents and damages the public’s faith in our justice system.”
