Donald Trump invokes Fifth Amendment to sidestep New York investigation
Former United States President Donald Trump has invoked the Fifth Amendment and abstained from answering questions under oath in the civil investigation into his business dealings carried out by the Attorney General of New York, Letitia James.
Mr Trump arrived at Ms James’ offices on Wednesday morning, but sent out a statement saying he had “declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution”.
“I have absolutely no choice because the current Administration and many prosecutors in this Country have lost all moral and ethical bounds of decency.” Mr Trump said. “Under the advice of my counsel and for all of the above reasons, I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.”
Mr Trump’s testimony comes a few days after FBI agents raided his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida as part of an unrelated federal probe into whether he took classified records when he left the White House.
The three Mr Trumps’ testimony had initially been slated for last month but was delayed after the July 14 death of the former president’s ex-wife, Ivana Trump, the mother of Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric Trump.
Mr Trump said the attack was aimed at preventing him from running for president again in 2024, accusing Democrats of abuse of the justice system in a manner similar to Third World countries.
Ms James has been conducting a civil investigation into whether the Trump Organisation inflated its real estate values. Mr Trump and two of his adult children, Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump, agreed to testify in the investigation starting on 15 July.
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