Update: The ‘Orange Mafia’ Boss, Donald Trump, Pleads The Fifth And Refuses To Answer Questions Under Oath

Eric Trump testified in October of 2020. Princess Ivanka and dumbass Donny Jr. testifed last week.

Today is Donald Trump’s turn in the barrel. The world record holder liar may do well to take the Fifth.

Well, that was quick!

Called it! The Washington Post reports, Trump appears for deposition in New York, says he will plead the 5th:

Former president Donald Trump arrived at the office of the New York attorney general Wednesday morning to give sworn testimony in a long-running civil probe of his business dealings, specifically his representations to lenders and tax agencies about the value of his assets.

In a lengthy statement, Trump denied wrongdoing, accused the U.S. government of unfairly targeting him and said he would refuse to answer questions, citing his 5th Amendment right not to incriminate himself.

Yeah, that’s not how this works. There is no blanket declaration of the Fifth Amendment privilege. You are asked questions, and you must assert the privilege to any question which in your judgement and that of your lawyer may tend to incriminate you. Donald Trump turned this into political theater.

Eric Trump, who was also a lieutenant in the company, invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 500 times when he sat for questioning in October 2020 in the same investigation, according to public disclosures made by James. At that time, the criminal investigation into the business practices of Trump and the Trump organization was still active.

See! Now that’s how this is done properly.

Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., who both served as executives in the family business and worked in the White House, were deposed in recent days, a person familiar with the investigation said. They answered questions, this person said.

Since 2019, Trump has been facing criminal and civil investigations into his business practices at the Trump Organization before he entered the White House. The criminal probe, led by the New York District Attorney’s Office, appears to have lost momentum. The civil inquiry is still proceeding, however, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D).

In a post on Trump’s social media service, Truth Social, early Wednesday, Trump continued his attacks on James’s investigation, calling the Black law enforcement official “racist” and saying he was seeing her “for a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. History!”

Broken record. It’s like the guy has a vocabualry of ony a dozen words.

He later posted that he was at her office for the deposition, and issued the statement saying he would not answer questions.

James, a Democrat, could file a lawsuit against the Trump Organization and its executives should she conclude that their conduct legally amounted to wrongdoing.

Trump has repeatedly accused her of targeting him and his business to score political points — pointing to comments James made on the campaign trail promising to investigate Trump and the Trump Organization.

Lawyers for Trump have said that the valuations practices James is concerned with are standard in the real estate industry. 

An old lawyers joke that apparently applies to New York real estate: “The law firm of Dewey, Cheatem & Howe.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) has said a parallel criminal investigation into those practices is still underway [he is lying], But the two prosecutors leading the investigation resigned in protest earlier this year when they learned Bragg was not onboard with moving to obtain an indictment. Bragg subsequently appointed a member of his executive team to lead the effort.

The criminal case began under Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D), who did not seek reelection. Bragg took office in January. So far, Trump’s longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, and the Trump Organization have been indicted in connection to an alleged long-running tax avoidance scheme.

Weisselberg and the company have pleaded not guilty and are due in court Friday for pretrial proceedings.

Based upon the pleadings in this case that I’ve read, the New York AG has a solid case. It comes down to jury tampering – a Trump specialty – to get a conviction.

A conviction means he could lose his Trump Organization, just like the New York AG’s office dissolved his fraudulent Trump University, and his fraudulent Trump Foundation.