Trump back in New York to give deposition in business fraud lawsuit

Former US president Donald Trump was back in New York on Thursday to give a deposition in the state civil case accusing him of business fraud, as his legal woes continued to multiply.

Trump arrived in New York a little over a week after appearing in New York criminal court on a different matter, pleading not guilty to dozens of felony charges related to hush-money payments to the adult film star Stormy Daniels and others during the 2016 presidential election.

Trump noted as much in a series of overnight social media posts that also lashed out against the case.

The lawsuit alleges that Trump misled banks and others about the value of his assets, including allegedly fraudulently inflating the value of 23 properties including his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump Tower and what was previously the Trump International Hotel, in Washington DC.

As Trump arrived in New York to address his legal woes with the state, an appeals court in Washington DC on Thursday refused to make a decision on a different set of lawsuits involving Trump and 79-year-old magazine writer E Jean Carroll, who has accused him of raping her nearly 30 years ago.

In another potential blow to the former Republican president, the court of appeals refused to consider whether Trump can be shielded from the first of two defamation lawsuits by Carroll, saying that it did not have sufficient information to decide whether he was acting as president when he accused Carroll of lying about the alleged incident.

The Washington DC appeals court has sent the case back to the second US circuit court of appeals in Manhattan, which last September asked whether under local law Trump made his comments in his role as president, or in his personal capacity, as Carroll argued.

A trial over the second denial is scheduled for 25 April in Manhattan federal court, where Trump could testify.

Trump also faces federal investigations stemming from his handling of government documents after leaving the White House and alleged attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat as well as a state-level probe in Georgia into whether he unlawfully sought to reverse the 2020 election results there.

According to individuals familiar with the matter, investigators have asked whether Trump showed the map to others while on board a plane as well as to a journalist who was writing a book, the outlet reported.