Legal experts are responding to Donald Trump’s claim that he pleaded the fifth when giving a sworn deposition to lawyers from the Office of the New York Attorney General, saying Letitia James’ case against the former president is now “immeasurably stronger.”
Trump infamously derided others over the years, saying people only invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination if they’re guilty.
In a lengthy statement after his testimony Wednesday Trump said, “under the advice of my counsel and for all of the above reasons, I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.”
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“I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?’ Now I know the answer to that question,” he added. “When your family, your company and all the people in your orbit have become targets of unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice.”
Legal experts disagree.
Popular attorney George Conway declared Attorney General Letitia James’ “case against Trump became immeasurably stronger today.”
He also said, “in any civil case that AG James may bring against Trump, the finder of fact is free to draw adverse inferences from his invocation of the Fifth Amendment’s protections.”
Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti explains, saying, “Trump was right to take the Fifth, but that decision has consequences. While his silence can’t be used against him in a criminal case, it can be used against him in the AG’s civil case.”
“If he is sued,” Mariotti adds, “jurors may be instructed they should presume his answers would have hurt him.”
Attorney Tristan Snell, who successfully prosecuted the Trump University case for the New York Attorney’s Office, offers more insight: “Trump pleads Fifth, refuses to answer NY AG questions about Trump Organization’s alleged tax and financial fraud. This is a civil case — so the court can draw an inference of liability. This is exactly what the AG was hoping to achieve. The case is now even stronger.”
Snell notes also that “Don Jr. and Ivanka did not plead the Fifth, likely because their involvement with the fraud was minimal. Donald Trump pled the Fifth, because he was almost certainly running the fraud.”
Ken White, a popular attorney noted for his “Popehat” Twitter account, offers a different perspective:
“If I’m not mistaken, despite years of speculation and expectation, this is the first time Trump is actually invoking the Fifth to avoid answering questions. It is absolutely the right call in his circumstances.”
Historian Garrett Graff, former editor of Politico magazine adds, “I recognize it’s the important right of any American to take the Fifth, but it’s worth noting how Hillary Clinton say through 11 hours of public Benghazi testimony and sat with the FBI for 3.5 hours amid her emails—and when Trump faces questions, he takes the Fifth.”