Trump in Sworn Testimony: I Averted 'Nuclear Holocaust' While in White House, 'Saving Millions of Lives'
A transcript of former President Donald Trump’s sworn testimony from an April deposition held in regards to a civil case against him and his company by the state of New York for fraud was released Wednesday.
In it, Trump said under oath that he was too busy “saving millions of lives” by preventing “nuclear holocaust” to pay very much attention to what was happening at his company.
The deposition was held on April 13 of this year at the office of the state attorney general, according to the transcript.
The transcript records several pages of preliminaries before prosecuting attorney Kevin Wallace asked the former president about the Trump Organization as an “an umbrella organization for all of [Trump’s] real estate development and corporate affiliates” and who was making the decisions for it, especially his children Erik, Don and Ivanka.
Once he began campaigning in earnest in 2015, he said, “my role was gone” as a leader in the Trump Organization. Trump’s reasoning for that was essentially that he “really wasn’t interested, believe it or not” in what the company was doing.
“I was interested 16 in solving the problem with North Korea, which was ready to blow up, and solving the problems we had with China, who was just ripping us off left and right, and making sure that Russia never went into Ukraine, which they didn’t, under our auspices and, you know, a lot of other things,” Trump explained. “There were a lot of things that were happening in the world, as you probably know.”
Trump said he handled all those issues well, but they re-emerged under President Joe Biden.
For clarification, Trump was asked if he was “too busy” for the company.
“Yeah, I think you can say it. It’s another way of saying it,” Trump responded. “I was very busy. I was — I considered this the most important job in the world, saving millions of lives. I think you would have nuclear holocaust, if I didn’t deal with North Korea. I think you would have a nuclear war, if I weren’t elected. And I think you might have a nuclear war now, if you want to know the truth.”
The attorney for the prosecution didn’t sound impressed by the aversion of a nuclear holocaust.
“I’m not going to use my seven hours on nuclear war,” he said, referring to the amount of time slated for the deposition.
Most of the deposition reads like similar documents from countless cases around the country, but there were occasional moments that The New York Times described as “contentious.”
At one point, for example, Trump attorney Christopher Kise interrupted Wallace, saying, “We’re going to be here until midnight if you keep asking questions that are all over the map.”
“Chris, we’re going to be here until midnight if your client answers every question with an eight-minute speech,” Wallace responded.
“So let’s get down to business,” he suggested.
You can read the entire transcript here or immediately below.
452564 2022 People of the State of v People of the State of Exhibit s 859 by The Western Journal on Scribd
Trump has moved to have the case thrown out of court, according to The Times, with a ruling on that motion expected in September. If that doesn’t happen, the trial is expected to begin in October.
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