🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Former President Donald Trump has "already sunk" himself in the civil business fraud lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to legal analyst Glenn Kirschner.
Kirschner, former assistant U.S. attorney, said during the Thursday episode of his Justice Matters podcast that Trump had already landed himself in hot water by repeatedly invoking the Fifth Amendment when he was first deposed in the James investigation over the summer. James filed the $250 million lawsuit against Trump, three of his adult children and the Trump Organization in September, accusing them of misrepresenting business assets to obtain favorable loans and tax benefits.
Trump flew from his home in Florida to New York on Thursday to sit for the second deposition, while accusing James of "leaking" his arrival time in the process. He also accused James, who is Black, of being "racist" against white people. After the deposition, Trump lawyer Christopher Kise said that the ex-president had spent almost seven hours "describing in detail his extraordinary business success," according to the Associated Press.
Trump lawyer Alina Habba said the former president was "not only willing but also eager to testify" prior to the deposition. While speaking before reports of Trump having answered questions emerged, Kirschner suggested that any decision by the former president and his lawyers to talk during the second deposition would come too late to help his case.
"For Donald Trump, it's a lose-lose proposition," Kirschner said. "Of course, losing is kind of Donald Trump's strong suit, right? It's kind of his thing. In the setting of a civil case, like this deposition in New York, if you plead the Fifth, that can be held against you. The jury will actually be instructed that during the deposition; Donald Trump pled the Fifth 450 times."
"So Donald Trump is already sunk, whether he decides to testify this second time in a deposition or not," he continued. "Because those 450 invocations of his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination will be used against him."
Separately, Trump is facing 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in New York. Kirschner pointed out Trump's previous tight-lipped deposition would have no bearing on that case, since invoking the Fifth Amendment cannot be used against a defendant in a criminal case.
However, Kirschner suggested that choosing to answer questions in the civil case on Thursday could have a negative impact on Trump's criminal case, saying that "every single word" of his testimony would be sent to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and "used against him in the criminal case."
Steven Cheung, spokesperson for Trump, previously told Newsweek that Kirschner was "a notorious trafficker of wild conspiracy theories and dubious legal analysis" and had "been shunned by the legal community at large."
Trump, who is seeking the presidency in 2024, is being investigated in Georgia and at the federal level and could still face additional criminal charges. He is also facing a civil defamation lawsuit from former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll, who has accused him of raping her in the 1990s.
Newsweek has reached out online to the office of James for comment.
About the writer
Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more