trump empire. and what he found than probably wouldn t shock anyone today. but back then it was a big deal. tim o brien discovered that donald trump s much lauded business excellence was actually far less impressive than trump had anyone to believe. he found that donald trump had been significantly overstating his net worth by billions of dollars. that he wasn t remotely close to being a billionaire. and so in 2005, tim o brien wrote a book exposing donald trump s prolific lies, and exaggerations about his wealth. donald trump reported by suing time o brien for defamation a year later, and that is how we got to see what it s like when donald trump testifies under oath. quoting from the transcript, attorney, mr. trump, have you always been completely truthful in your public statements about your net worth of properties? trump, i try. attorney, have you ever not been truthful? trump, my net worth blocked away, and it goes up and down with a market and with attitudes and w
new information about the fbi s search of donald trump s florida home. trump world has now reportedly started speculating about who in the former presidents orbit, might have talked to the fbi, and what it could mean for the investigation. we will have more on that later. but let s go back in time a little. to 2005. more than a decade before donald trump s first run for president, before he started fighting with racist birtherism conspiracies, back when he was just a real estate guy, with a funny hairdo, and a reality tv show, that year the intrepid journalist, tim o brien, the guy on the left, the side to side digging into the so-called trump empire. and what he found then probably wouldn t shock anyone today. but back then it was a big deal. tim o brien discovered that donald trump s much lauded business success was actually far less impressive than trump had anyone to believe. he found that donald trump had been significantly overstating his net worth by billions of dollar
Today, donald trump once again found himself giving sworn testimony. this time it was a new york attorney generals investigation into whether trump knowingly lied about the values of these various properties in order to pay less in taxes. but this time, donald trump didn t cite his feelings or his great memory, or dangerous fruit. this time he took a different strategy. just after donald trump arrived at the new york attorneys general of us at 9 am this morning, donald trump released a statement quote, i once asked, if you are innocent, why are you taking the fifth amendment? now i know the answer to that question. when your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the target of an unfounded politically motivated witch hunt, supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the fake news media, you have no choice. under the advice of my counsel, i declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the united states
Away, and it goes up and down with a market and with attitudes and with feelings, even in my own feelings, but i try. attorney, let me just understand that a little, you said your net worth goes up and down based upon your own feelings? trump, yes, even my own feelings, as to where the world, is where the world is going, and that can change rapidly from day to day. attorney, when you publicly state a net worth number, what do you base that number on? trump, i would say it s my general attitude at the time that the question may be asked. and as i say, it varies. after trump gave his, my network has actually just vibes, testimony. the judge surprisingly throughout the defamation case. turns out the law didn t care about trump s feelings. years later, trump ended up back in court, this time as the defendant. he was being sued by former students from his sham business school, trump university, trump
Is where the world is going, and that can change rapidly from day to day. attorney: when you publicly state a net worth number, what do you base that number on? trump: i would say it s my general attitude at the time that the question may be asked. and as i say, it varies. after trump gave his, my networth is actually just vibes, testimony. the judge surprisingly throughout the defamation case. turns out the law didn t care about trump s feelings. years later, trump ended up back in court, this time as the defendant. he was being sued by former students from his sham business school, trump university, trump had claimed to have only hired the best of the best instructors for his fake school, instructors who were handpicked by donald trump himself. but once under oath, trump again found himself having to answer for his own boastful lies, this time about his great memory. do you recall saying you