Trump will meet with the New York attorney general’s team amid that office’s three-year-long investigation into whether the Trump Organization had misstated the value assets on financial statements. Trump had tried for months to avoid Wednesday’s sit-down — which comes at a high stakes moment for the former president just two days after the FBI raided his Florida home in an investigation into the alleged mishandling of White House records.
The former president is also the subject of a parallel criminal investigation being conducted by the Manhattan district attorney’s office into whether he fraudulently inflated property values.
A state appeals court ruled in May that Trump and his two eldest children would have to sit for depositions under oath in the attorney general’s probe, denying an appeal from Trump to overturn a ruling enforcing the subpoenas. The former president’s meeting on Wednesday comes just days after the attorney general’s office questioned Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump.
James’ office has said that it uncovered “significant evidence” that the Trump Organization fraudulently valued multiple assets and misrepresented them to mislead financial institutions. But Trump has denied any wrongdoing and claimed the investigation is politically motivated.
The former president’s deposition on Wednesday could represent a final stage of James’ civil investigation, after which she could file a lawsuit against Trump or negotiate a settlement with Trump’s lawyers to obtain a quicker financial payout.
