Trump refuses to answer questions in New York civil probe

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Former US President Donald Trump claimed to have "no choice" on Wednesday but to invoke the Fifth Amendment while asked questions under oath in New York over allegations of fraud in his family business. The Fifth Amendment of the US constitution allows individuals to remain silent to protect against self-incrimination under questioning.

"I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution," Trump said in a statement after the questioning, noting that he took advice from his legal counsel.

"When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice," Trump claimed.

"If there was any question in my mind, the raid of my home, Mar-a-Lago, on Monday by the FBI, just two days prior to this deposition, wiped out any uncertainty."

The dramatic FBI raid on Donald Trump's palatial Florida residence has supercharged the bitter, polarizing political debate around the slew of judicial investigations facing the former President as he considers another White House run.

Former US President Donald Trump said Monday that his Mar-A-Lago residence in Florida was being "raided" by FBI agents in what he called an act of "prosecutorial misconduct".

The FBI declined to comment on whether the search was happening or what it might be for, and Trump did not indicate why federal agents were at his home.

The former president announced earlier on social media that he was in the offices of New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose investigation is one of many into the billionaire's shady business practices that many have perceived as corrupt.

James had asked the court to hold Trump in contempt after he missed a March deadline to present certain documents, with Trump's lawyer saying he would appeal the ruling. 

The Attorney General had opened a civil inquiry in 2019 into claims that Trump had inflated the value of his assets to banks when seeking loans before taking office.

She subpoenaed former President Donald Trump and two of his children, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., demanding their testimony in connection with the probe.

The probes into the organization and its associates come over allegations in news reports and by Trump's former personal lawyer asserting that the former president had a history of misrepresenting the value of his assets.

Trump later took to his platform, Truth Social, to bash James, trying to paint her as a "racist" attorney general "trying to get Trump."

James is conducting "a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in US  history!" Trump wrote. "My great company, and myself, are being attacked from all sides. Banana Republic!"

The civil probe deals Trump a mighty legal blow, which constitutes his latest, as he fights numerous other cases, including the January 6 attack on the Capitol, which obstructs his path to a new presidency at the White House in 2024.