President’s son questioned under oath in investigation of family business

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The president’s second son, Eric Trump, has been questioned under oath as part of a New York Attorney General’s (NYAG) investigation of the Trump Organisation’s asset valuations.

The office of NYAG Letitia James confirmed that Mr Trump, who is an executive vice president at the Trump Organisation, sat for the deposition virtually on Monday.

The filing from the office is investigating whether Donald Trump illegally inflated the value of his business assets on annual financial statements.  The company has denied any wrongdoing.

Mr Trump maintains ownership over his vast business empire, though he has entrusted day-to-day operations to his sons Eric and Donald Jr.

The president's son tried to delay the testimony until after the 3 November election, arguing that he was too busy working on his father’s re-election campaign to submit to questioning.

A judge ordered Mr Trump to sit for the deposition by 7 October following legal action from Ms James.

The probe comes after Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen accused Mr Trump under congressional oath of inflating the value of his various properties in business and bank loan negotiations and then deflating them on his tax returns.

The Trump’s have argued that the attorney general is using the investigation for political gain.

"The NYAG’s targeting of my family violates every ethical rule she was elected to protect," Mr Trump tweeted in September.

"Last month alone there were over 240 shootings in NYC, yet the NYAG’s sole focus is an anti-Trump fishing expedition that she promised during her campaign. New York is so lost."

The attorney general’s probe is civil rather than criminal in nature. So far, no claims that any law was broken have been made.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press