Trump Takes the 5th in Criminal Investigation
- "If you're innocent why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?" - Donald Trump, at an Iowa campaign appearance in 2016.
- "…if you are innocent, do not remain silent. You look guilty as hell!" - Donald Trump, tweeting advice to Bill Cosby in 2014.
August, 2022 - Although we firmly support every Citizen's right against self-incrimination, we don't necessarily disagree with these two statements made by Mr. Trump. And based on the Citizens we communicate with, most Americans probably feel the same way.
So, particularly given his history of making these types of public comments in the past, it came as a surprise to many that Mr. Trump recently invoked his own Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The occasion was a New York grand jury hearing where Mr. Trump was being questioned as part of the New York Attorney General's investigation into the business practices of the Trump Organization.
(Specifically, the New York AG's office is looking into whether any banking, insurance, or tax laws were violated and whether financial fraud was committed. Numerous reports have indicated that Mr. Trump overvalued his real estate holdings when applying for bank loans, but undervalued his real estate holdings for tax purposes. If true, both of those fraudulent filings are crimes.)
 (image from wikipedia)
While reports indicate that Mr. Trump "took the Fifth" over 400 times during his hearing, not everyone else in his immediate family did the same. It has been reported that son Donald Jr. and daughter Ivanka answered all questions from the grand jury when they were subpoenaed. On the other hand, Mr. Trump's son Eric, who is much more involved in the operation of the Trump Organization than Donald Jr. and Ivanka are, reportedly took the Fifth over 500 times.
Mr. Trump's attorney, Ron Fischetti, tried to take the blame for Mr. Trump's performance saying that Mr. Trump wanted to testify, but invoked his Fifth Amendment right based on Mr. Fischetti's advice. This may have been a smart move on the part of Mr. Fischetti. It is well-known that Mr. Trump loves to talk and to go off-script, so testifying could have been dangerous to his defense, not knowing what he might be putting on the record.
But, again, we have to go back to the fact that if you are innocent and you tell the truth, you have nothing to fear. So why take the Fifth? Having refused to answer the grand jury's questions just leaves the public with the perception that Mr. Trump and Eric do have something illegal to hide.
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