New York State Attorney General Letitia James sat opposite Donald J. Trump as he repeatedly refused to answer questions and invoked his right to self-incrimination during a statement Wednesday, according to one of Mr. Trump’s attorneys.
The attorney, Ronald P. Fischetti, said that over the course of about four hours, with several intermissions, by the beginning of the interview, Mr. Trump answered only one question about his name.
Then he read a statement on the file calling the investigation a continuation of “the greatest witch hunt in our country’s history” and accusing Ms. James of “openly campaigning for a policy to destroy me.”
Ms James did not respond visibly, Mr Fischetti said in an interview.
After that, Mr. Trump repeated the words “same answer” from about 9:30 a.m. to about 3:00 p.m., with a long break for lunch and several shorter breaks.
“They asked a lot of questions about valuations and golf clubs and all that sort of thing,” said Mr Fischetti. He said Mr Trump did not deviate from that answer and gave the same answer until the interview was over.
Ms. James read an introduction at the opening of the interview, but left the questioning to one of her firm’s attorneys, Kevin Wallace. A number of other attorneys from her office were in attendance, and Mr. Fischetti said he was accompanied by another of Mr. Trump’s attorneys, Alina Habba.
The attorney general’s office had not been warned in advance that Mr. Trump would take the fifth, Mr. Fischetti said, in part because the decision was made shortly before the interview and Mr. Trump had to be persuaded not to answer the question. ask substantive questions.
“He absolutely wanted to testify, and it took a strong conviction from me and some others to convince him,” said Mr Fischetti.
The statement Mr Trump read overlapped significantly with a statement he released publicly earlier in the day linking his refusal to answer questions with Monday’s FBI search, portraying the actions as part of a greater effort by his political opponents to discredit him. (The two studies are not related.)
“I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you adopting the Fifth Amendment?'” he said in both statements. “Now I know the answer to that question.” He said he had been targeted by lawyers, prosecutors and the news media, leaving him “no choice.”