Trump to testify on fraud probe January 7th

Albuquerque NM

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ew York, U.S., December 2, 2021. REUTERS/Joy Malone WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - New York's attorney general is seeking to question former U.S. President Donald Trump under oath as part of the state's civil fraud investigation of his namesake business, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The attorney general, Letitia James, wants Trump to sit for a Jan. 7 deposition as she probes whether the Trump Organization manipulated the valuations of its real estate properties, the person said, confirming a report in the Washington Post. James' office declined to comment. "This is another political witch-hunt," a Trump Organization spokesperson said in a statement, calling it a "political persecution" that is "illegal, unethical and... a travesty to our great state and legal system." The civil probe is related to but separate from the more-than three-year criminal probe by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance of the Trump Organization's business practices, which James joined in May. In July, the company and longtime Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in what a prosecutor in Vance's office called a "sweeping and audacious" 15-year tax fraud. "This is not part of the criminal investigation," said a spokesman for the Manhattan District Attorney.