Trump wants to testify under oath. When he did so a decade ago, he admitted to 30 lies.

(Image credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)

published 12 June 2017

President Trump said Friday that he is "100 percent" willing to testify under oath in order to disprove the testimony delivered by his former FBI director, James Comey, last week. But when Trump testified under oath a decade ago while suing author Timothy L. O'Brien for libel, he was forced to confess 30 different lies, O'Brien recalls for Bloomberg View:

Trump had to acknowledge 30 times during that deposition that he had lied over the years about a wide range of issues: his ownership stake in a large Manhattan real estate development; the cost of a membership to one of his golf clubs; the size of the Trump Organization; his wealth; the rate for his speaking appearances; how many condos he had sold; the debt he owed, and whether he borrowed money from his family to stave off personal bankruptcy.Trump also lied during the deposition about his business relationships with organized crime figures. [Bloomberg View]

Trump's exaggerations are famous — as are his threats. Trump warned Comey that he had better "hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations" and then doubled down last week saying there would be news of the tapes in the "very near future." But O'Brien notes "Trump told me and other reporters over the years that he had a taping system in his Trump Tower office that he used to record journalists meeting with him. But when he testified under oath in the deposition for his suit against me, Trump acknowledged that he was 'not equipped to tape-record.'"

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox