Donald Trump returns to NYC for deposition in civil lawsuit with AG Letitia James
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Former President Donald Trump returned to New York City for the second time in just over a week to sit for a deposition.
The former president arrived at Trump Tower late Wednesday.
This deposition is part of a civil lawsuit brought on by New York Attorney General Letitia James, over allegations the Trump organization falsified financial statements in order to obtain loans.
Trump has been seeking to delay the start of the trial in the civil case but the judge has said the October start is firm "come hell or high water."
The last time Trump sat for a deposition, he turned to James and smiled briefly as she began to depose him August 10, video of the deposition obtained by ABC News showed.
The video, obtained in January, represented the first time the public saw portions of the hours-long deposition that preceded James' $250 million civil lawsuit filed against Trump, his eldest children, his business and its top executives for inflating his net worth.
The civil case is separate from the criminal case being brought by District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump pleaded not guilty last week to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Now, in an extraordinary move, Bragg is suing House judiciary committee chair and Trump loyalist Jim Jordan, to stop his investigation into Bragg's office.
"Alvin Bragg used federal funds to indict a former president for no crime and when we ask questions about it, when we want to investigate, he takes us to court," Jordan said.
Trump sat down with Fox News again Tuesday night where he said all these legal troubles, including this deposition with James, will not stop his 2024 presidential campaign.
Trump had initially countersued James for filing the lawsuit against him. But Trump withdrew the lawsuit in January after U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks warned Trump's legal team that the lawsuit appeared to verge on frivolous.
In a separate civil trial set to start in just days, writer E Jean Carroll alleges Trump pushed her into a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room 23 years ago and raped her. She is suing for defamation an battery after Trump accused her of lying.
His lawyers are arguing the "deluge" of media coverage of his recent indictment on 34 criminal charges makes fairness impossible.
The trial is scheduled to begin April 25 in Manhattan federal court but, in an overnight filing Trump's attorney, Joe Tacopina, asked the judge for a "cooling off" period.
Carroll opposed Trump's attempt to delay her upcoming defamation and battery case, calling it "obviously meritless."
Trump is not required to attend the trial. The judge has given his attorneys until next week to inform him whether he will.
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