loading
“I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why do you accept the Fifth Amendment?'” Trump said in his statement. “Now I know the answer to that question.”
Trump added: “When your family, your company and everyone in your orbit has become the target of a baseless and politically motivated witch hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors and the media of reporting fake news, you have no choice.”
In the statement, Trump also made disparaging comments about James and violent crime in New York state.
He sought to link the state attorney general’s investigation to Monday’s FBI search of his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, which represented an escalation in a federal investigation into whether he illegally took White House records when he left office in January 2021.
On Thursday (AEST), the FBI director had strong words for Trump supporters who have been using violent rhetoric following his agency’s search of Trump’s home.
Christopher Wray, who was appointed director of the agency by Trump in 2017, called the threats circulating online against federal agents and the Department of Justice “deplorable and dangerous.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray speaks during a news conference. Credit: AP
Wray made the remarks after a news conference during a long-planned visit to the agency’s field office in Omaha, Nebraska, where he discussed the FBI’s focus on cybersecurity. He declined to answer questions about the hours-long search that Trump called a raid.
It has been easy to find threats and a call to arms in those corners of the internet favored by right-wing extremists since Trump himself announced the search. Reactions included the ubiquitous “Lock and Load” and calls for the assassination of federal agents and even federal Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The Justice Department has been investigating possible mishandling of classified information since the National Archives and Records Administration said it received 15 boxes of White House records from Mar-a-Lago, including documents containing classified information, earlier this year.
Trump agreed in June to testify in New York’s three-year fraud probe, but only after court rulings rejected his argument that he should not because the probe was politically motivated.
Reuters, AP
Get a note directly from our foreigner correspondents about what’s making headlines around the world. Subscribe to the What in the World weekly newsletter here.