(PatriotWise.com) – Video footage has been released showing former President Donald Trump pleading the 5th Amendment for four hours at a deposition in New York last year. The 5th Amendment to the Constitution allows people to remain silent to prevent self-incrimination. During the deposition last summer in Manhattan, Trump read out a statement calling New York Attorney General Letitia James a “renegade and out of control prosecutor” and said the proceedings amounted to the greatest witch hunt in American history.
New York’s Attorney General has accused Donald Trump of enriching himself and his family through “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentations.” In particular, Trump is accused of creating false and misleading financial statements, including on the value of his various properties. “We found that Mr. Trump, his children, and the corporation used more than 200 false asset valuations over a ten-year period,” James said. Trump accused her of a politically motivated campaign against him.
In January, a New York Judge imposed a $1.6 million fine on the Trump Organization – the maximum penalty allowed. It was imposed following a guilty verdict for fraud brought by District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat. While calling for an increase in the amount that companies can be fined, Bragg said, “It’s important regardless of who the defendant is, because it’s cheating and greed and cheating the taxpayers.”
Meanwhile, former special assistant District Attorney Mark Pomerantz has said that Trump should face criminal charges for inflating his net worth. In his book People vs Donald Trump, Pomerantz wrote that previous District Attorney Cyrus Vance had investigated Trump’s finances but his team was prevented from presenting their evidence to a grand jury upon the swearing-in of Alvin Bragg. He said the decision not to prosecute Trump amounted to a grave miscarriage of justice. Among the allegations made by Pomerantz was that Trump had valued his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida at $739 million when it was only worth about a tenth of that.
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