Former President Trump traveled to New York on Thursday for his second legal appearance due to a civil lawsuit for fraud brought by the city’s attorney general, Letitia James.
His return comes after appearing last week in Manhattan for an arraignment for more than 30 crimes related to money paid to silence a porn actress shortly before the 2016 elections. The former president has denied everything.
In her lawsuit, the prosecutor alleges that Trump, along with his three adult children and their business entities, manipulated property values to obtain investment and loan proceeds over several years.
“President Trump is not only willing but also eager to testify before the prosecutor today,” said his attorney, Alina Habba. “He remains steadfast in his position that he has nothing to hide, and he looks forward to educating the attorney general on the immense success of his multi-million dollar enterprise.”
“The good thing about the ‘persecution’ […] it’s that I’ll finally be able to show what a great, profitable, valuable company I’ve built,” Trump said on Truth Social on Thursday.
The prosecutor seeks to impose $250 million in sanctions on Trump’s company. He asked the court to bar the former president and his children, Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump, from working as officers or directors of any corporation registered or licensed in New York.
James also requested that the former president and his business be barred from buying real estate in New York or borrowing from any financial institution in the Big Apple for five years.
Trump has called it “another witch hunt” and claimed that this case has no merit. He said Thursday morning that he was addressing the statement, again arguing that the case is “ridiculous.”
“This civil case is ridiculous, just like all the other Election Interference cases filed against me,” he said in a Truth Social post. “If I had a fair judge, this case would never have happened. WIZARD!”
