Donald Trump on Thursday blasted black state Attorney General Letitia James as ‘racist’ and claimed she leaked details of when he would arrive for his deposition in her $250 million case against his business empire.
‘I will be heading downtown to meet with a Racist who leaked that I would be there at 9:30 A.M.,’ he wrote on his Truth Social media platform before he boarded his motorcade for the ride through lower Manhattan. ‘The leak makes it much more difficult for the Police and Secret Service to do their job.’
Trump waved to the crowds and pumped his fist in the air as he left Trump Tower on Thursday morning to head to James’ downtown office.
He blasted her case – which accuses him and his adult children Don Jr., Eric, and Ivanka – of business fraud.
‘This civil case is ridiculous, just like all of the other Election Interference cases being brought against me. If I had a fair judge, this case would have never happened. MAGA!,’ he wrote.
Donald Trump raises his fist to the crowd outside Trump Tower
There were a few protesters outside James’ offices in lower Manhattan when Trump arrived, with one group carrying a banner reading, ‘No One Is Above the Law.’
James alleges that various Trump family members misled banks and others by providing financial statements that intentionally misstated the value of his assets, including his golf clubs and the hotels bearing his name.
Her office is seeking $250 million in damages, and a ban on Trump and three of his adult children – Ivanka, Don, Jr. and Eric – from doing business in the state ever again.
She declined to answer a question about the deposition at a news conference on an unrelated matter Wednesday.
It’s unclear if Trump will answer any questions in his second deposition, which will be conducted in private if it takes place as planned. During his first, which was on August 10th, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against against self-incrimination more than 400 times.
‘Anyone in my position not taking the Fifth Amendment would be a fool, an absolute fool,’ he said in the session, which was recorded on camera and later released publicly.
Trump predicted a ‘renegade’ prosecutor would try to make a criminal case out of his answers, if he gave them.
‘One statement or answer that is ever so slightly off, just ever so slightly, by accident, by mistake, such as it was a sunny, beautiful day, when actually it was slightly overcast, would be met by law enforcement at a level seldom seen in this country, because I´ve experienced it,’ he said.
The former president arrived in New York City on Wednesday night from his home in Palm Beach, Fla.
He has repeatedly attacked James for the case against him and his family – a drumbeat he kept up on Wednesday ahead of his deposition.
‘Just arrived in Manhattan for a deposition in front of New York State’s RACIST, TRUMP HATING Attorney General, Letitia ‘Peekaboo’ James, in another unjust & ridiculous persecution of The 45th President of the United States,’ Trump wrote on his social media network.
Donald Trump will be deposed Thursday morning in a business case
Donald Trump’s motorcade moves through New York
Last week, Trump referred to Letitia James (pictured) as a ‘racist in reverse’ for pursuing a civil case against his businesses. He is now due to be deposed by her for a second time in connection with a $250 million business fraud case
Officers from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) stand near the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James
He called James a ‘lowlife’, and said the case was politically motivated.
He also said he was looking forward to showing how he built his business.
‘I built a GREAT & prosperous company, employed thousands of people, built magnificent structures all over the World, but particularly in New York, & now have to prove it to this LOWLIFE who campaigned on a ‘I will get Trump’ platform, even before knowing anything about me!
‘The good thing about the A.G. Peekaboo James ‘persecution’ is that I will finally be able to show what a great, profitable, and valuable company I built, actually, some of the greatest real estate assets anywhere in the world.’
Trump also attacked the judge overseeing the case, Arthur Engoron, calling him ‘a highly partisan, Trump Hating Judge who was sought out, or ‘shopped,’ by Peekaboo James.’
Trump added: ‘VERY UNFAIR. NEW YORK STATE SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THIS INJUSTICE!’
Donald Trump is sworn in for a deposition on Aug. 10, 2022, in New York where pleaded the fifth amendment more than 400 times
Donald Trump waves on Wednesday night as he returns to Manhattan for the first time since his arrest last week
Donald Trump is seen on Wednesday evening boarding his plane at West Palm Beach, bound for New York City
Trump is seen arriving at the airport to board his plane
The trip marks the first time that Trump has returned to New York City since his arrest and arraignment on charges of paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels.
The Stormy Daniels case and James’s case are not connected.
Trump and his attorneys tried to get the James case dismissed, arguing that he, as a Republican, was being ‘singled out and subject to selective treatment’ by James.
Engoron denied the former president’s move and ordered it to trial.
Engoron also rejected a separate attempt by Ivanka Trump, named in the lawsuit, to dismiss the accusations against her.
Engoron has scheduled an October 2 trial date – just before the Republican presidential primaries begin.
He agreed to allow lawyers more time to review evidence, interview witnesses and file motions.
Trump’s deposition is part of that process.
In addition to James’ case and the hush money case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Trump faces a third legal case in New York: a civil lawsuit resulting from columnist Jean Carroll’s claims that he raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. Trump has denied the charge.
That trial is scheduled to start April 25 in Manhattan federal court.
Mar-a-Lago at $730M when it should be $75M: The breakdown of properties New York AG claims Trump inflated and how he did it
After a three-year probe into the former president’s finances New York attorney general Letitia James filed a civil lawsuit against Donald Trump in September 2022 for alleged ‘numerous acts of fraud.’
Following a review of ‘millions of documents’ with a team of investigators, she told reporters she was suing Trump for ‘violating the law as part of his efforts to generate profits for himself, his family and his company.’
James specifically named Trump and his three adult children, Don Jr., Eric, and Ivanka Trump, and said they ‘persistently’ inflated the value of assets.
Here’s a breakdown of the lawsuit’s biggest accusations:
Trump claimed his Trump Tower penthouse apartment was three times its actual size – and worth a whopping $327 million
According to James, Trump claimed his penthouse in Trump Tower in Manhattan was 30,000 square feet when in reality the place was only a third of that size – 11,000 square feet. Based on the inflated square footage, Trump valued the apartment at $327 million, a price which James called ‘absurd.’
‘To this date, no other apartment in New York City has ever sold for that much,’ she said.
Trump valued Mar-a-Lago at nearly 10 times what it was worth at $739 million
Trump’s Florida golf resort was valued at $739 million ‘based on the false premise that it was unrestricted property and could be developed for residential use,’ according to James. Her office pointed out that Trump donated the residential development rights of the property and sharply restricted making any changes. She claims that the property should have been valued at $75 million and brings in about $25 million in revenue per year.
Trump valued his Park Avenue based on the units’ market value, though they were rent stabilized and worth far less at a total of $84.5 million
The Trump Organization received a valuation for Trump Park Avenue, a 32-story condo building with 120 apartments and eight penthouses, in 2020 at $84.5 million.
On a 2020 statement of Trump’s financial condition he listed the property being worth $135.8 million.
James’ team found that in 2011 and 2012, Trump ‘ignored legal restrictions’ listed 12 rent-stabilized units in the building by what they would be worth if they could be rented out at market value. Trump claimed the units were worth $50 million, over 65 times the $750,000 those units were appraised at in 2010.
Trump valued his Seven Springs estate nearly ten times what it was appraised for only a few years prior at up to $291 million
In 1995 Trump purchased his 213-acre estate in Westchester County, New York for $7.5 million. Two decades later in 2006 it was found to be worth $30 million, but Trump’s statements of financial condition from 2011 to 2021 found the property to be worth $261 million and $291 million.
In 1995 Trump purchased his 213-acre estate in Westchester County, New York for $7.5 million
Trump listed the value of 40 Wall Street at over $300 million what it was found to be worth at $530 million
The Trump building at 40 Wall Street, where Trump owns the ground lease was valued at $220 million in 2012. The Trump Organization listed the property’s value at $530 million in 2013.
Trump told Nevada tax authorities Trump International Hotel and Tower in Las Vegas was worth far less than what his financial statement showed at $108 million
Trump owns a 50 percent stake in a hotel condominium tower together with businessman Phillip Ruffin. In 2015 the Trump Organization submitted a $24,950,000 valuation to contest taxes they owed to Nevada, but the same year his statement showed the property to be worth $108 million.
Trump did not factor in escalating rent expenses for his Niketown valuation in the mid-$400 million range
Trump owns two ground leases for a space that adjoins Trump Tower that for many years he rented to Nike. In 2020 and 2021 Trump reported the value of the property was in the mid-$400 million range, while James’ office found the property to be worth $225-$250 million range, arguing that Trump had not factored in ‘escalating scheduled rent expenses.’
Trump used ‘deceptive techniques’ to list the value of his golf and social clubs
James’ office found that Trump used a number of ‘deceptive techniques’ to estimate the value of his 12 clubs. The first is a ‘fixed asset scheme,’ where she says Trump valued the clubs based on fixed assets without factoring in any depreciation. Others schemes listed involved factoring the value of memberships into the valuation while listing Trump’s liability for those memberships as zero. A ‘brand premium scheme’ entailed the Trump Organization adding a premium to inflate the value of golf courses and clubs, often up to 30% for the ‘Trump Brand,’ while claiming that brand premiums were not included.
Trump valued his Turnberry golf course on a fixed asset scheme at $127 million even though it has been operating at a loss
In 2017, Trump’s golf course in Turnberry, Scotland, was valued at nearly $127million. But James insists it has operated as a loss since then, and says it was ‘false and misleading’ of Trump to use a valuation of the course based on a fixed asset scheme.
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