Donald J. Trump declined to answer questions from the New York state attorney general’s office on Wednesday, a stunning gamble in a high-stakes legal interview that is likely to determine the course of a civil investigation into his company’s business practices.

In a statement released shortly after the questioning began on Wednesday, Trump said he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, explaining that he “declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution”.

After the deposition began, two sources with knowledge of the matter confirmed that he was refusing to answer questions, citing the Fifth Amendment. Since March 2019, attorney general Letitia James’s office has investigated whether Trump and his company improperly inflated the value of his hotels, golf clubs and other assets.

Trump has long dismissed the inquiry from James, a Democrat, as a partisan “witch hunt”.In his statement on Wednesday, he cast it as part of a grander conspiracy against him, linking it to the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, his home and private club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday.“I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent,why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?’” he said in the statement.

“Now I know the answer to that question.” He said that being targeted by lawyers, prosecutors and the news media had left him with “no choice”.

But there are other reasons Trump may have decided not to answer questions. While James’s inquiry is civil, and she cannot file criminal charges against the former President, the Manhattan district attorney’s office has been conducting a parallel criminal investigation into whether Trump fraudulently inflated the valuations of his properties.

Any misstep from the former President in his deposition could have breathed new life into that inquiry.Trump had not been expected to invoke his constitutional right against self-incrimination.He has long considered himself his best spokesman, and those who had questioned him in the past, as well as some of his own advisers, believed he was unlikely to stay quiet.

His decision could have a significant impact on any trial if James’s investigation leads to a lawsuit.Jurors in civil matters can draw a negative inference when a defendant invokes his or her Fifth Amendment privilege, unlike in criminal cases, where exercising the right against self-incrimination cannot be held against the defendant.Staying silent could also hurt Trump politically at a time when he is hinting that he will join the 2024 presidential race; it could raise questions about what he might be trying to hide.

Trump has ridiculed witnesses for invoking their Fifth Amendment rights, once remarking at a rally, “You see the mob takes the Fifth,” and, “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”

New York Times News Service