Former President Donald Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment on Wednesday when he was deposed by Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James, defying previous comments he made while running for president in 2016.
Trump is under investigation for committing fraud while he was the head of the Trump Organization, according to The New York Times. The deposition and the invocation of the Fifth Amendment comes only one day after Trump’s home in Florida was raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Trump stated in 2016 at a campaign rally that those who are innocent should not have to plead the Fifth Amendment because they have nothing to hide. However, his decision to invoke his constitutional right might potentially raise some eyebrows.
“If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?,” Trump said at the rally in Iowa. “You tell me what has been going on with our country. You tell me what is going on with our government.”
From 2016, then Presidential Candidate Donald Trump: “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the 5th Amendment?” pic.twitter.com/V8kSuM2xZw
— CSPAN (@cspan) August 10, 2022
The Fifth Amendment guarantees protections against self-incrimination, meaning that one does not have to testify in a court if they feel their testimony could be used against them.
“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,” Trump said in his statement.
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