Trump claims investigations into him are politically motivated. That is a lie | Heather Cox Richardson

Trump and his supporters are using the language of authoritarians when they denounce cases against him as illegitimate'

Last week, Judge Arthur F Engoron of the supreme court of the state of New York ruled that former president Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr, and his daughter Ivanka Trump must produce documents and testify under oath in a civil investigation into their valuations of their business assets, complying with a subpoena New York attorney general Letitia James issued for their testimony in December.

The Trumps can invoke their rights under the fifth amendment to the constitution not to incriminate themselves. This is what Eric Trump did more than 500 times in October 2020, when he testified before members of the attorney general's office. In a civil trial, however, invoking the fifth can be interpreted negatively.

Heather Cox Richardson is an American historian and professor of history at Boston College. She is the author of Letters from an American, a daily newsletter about American politics and history