Donald Trump was interviewed under oath in New York on Tuesday for a lawsuit related to his time as president and the termination of a Russia investigation-era FBI official.
The deposition was conducted by attorneys for the FBI official, Peter Strzok, and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page late in the day on Tuesday, sources familiar with Trump’s schedule say.
The deposition comes as Trump’s obligations in court continue to mount – on Tuesday he also attended the civil fraud trial related to his business inflating its assets. Monday, he was ordered not to disparage possible witnesses, court officers or prosecutors while facing federal criminal charges related to January 6. On Friday, jury selection is set to begin in the first trial of his co-defendants in the 2020 election subversion case in Georgia.
Whether the deposition would be allowed has been an issue fought in court for years, with the Biden Justice Department seeking to shield Trump from giving the testimony, citing legal protections surrounding presidents and their actions while in office.
But the federal courts in Washington, DC, ultimately sided with Strzok and Page.
The case, and Strzok and Page’s pursuit of Trump’s testimony, has tested the limits of confidentiality around the presidency.
Strzok is accusing the Justice Department of wrongfully terminating him because of Trump’s publicly stated anger toward him and the Russia investigation. He and Page are also suing over the release of their text messages to the press.
Trump was allowed to be questioned on Tuesday at the deposition for no more than two hours. A judge previously put specific parameters around the questions he could be asked. Strzok’s and Page’s attorneys were able to ask Trump about his public statements and other communications he made about the pair in 2017 and 2018.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that it was during the Biden administration when the Justice Department sought to block Trump’s deposition.
