Donald Trump’s motorcade was met with chants of “New York hates you” after he returned for a deposition in a $250m civil lawsuit alleging fraud by his company and him.
A lawsuit against the former president was brought last year by New York attorney general Letitia James, a Democrat, who claims the Trump family and Trump Organization misled banks and business associates by giving false financial statements overvaluing assets over a decade of deals.
A video showed a crowd waiting near Ms James’s office building and bursting into chants of “New York hates you” as Mr Trump’s motorcade rolled into 28 Liberty Street just before 10am on Thursday.
The chants grew louder as the former president’s car passed through the crowd which held banners of “No one is above the law” and “Trump or death in 2024”.
A second video of Mr Trump showed him holding his first up in a show of defiance as he left Trump Tower before making his way to downtown Manhattan for the New York attorney general’s office.
This was Mr Trump’s first time back in New York since he was arrested and pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in relation to hush money payments made in the run up to the 2016 presidential election.
At the New York attorney general’s office, Mr Trump answered questions for seven hours and boasted about his “extraordinary business success”.
“President Trump spent nearly seven hours today describing in detail his extraordinary business success,” said Mr Trump’s lawyer Christopher Kise in a statement following the deposition.
“The transactions at the center of this case were wildly profitable for the banks and for the Trump entities,” he said.
“When the facts of this success, and not politically engineered soundbites, are out in the open, everyone will scoff at the notion any fraud took place.”
The lawsuit is separate from the felony criminal charges introduced by Manhattan’s district attorney Alvin Bragg, for which Mr Trump was arraigned, becoming the first former president to be indicted.
Before leaving for his deposition in the morning, Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform at 8am apparently referring to Ms James: “I will be heading downtown to meet with a Racist who leaked that I would be there at 9:30 A.M.”
“The leak makes it much more difficult for the Police and Secret Service to do their job. This civil case is ridiculous, just like all of the other Election Interference cases being brought against me.
“If I had a fair judge, this case would have never happened. MAGA!”
