Trump’s company could be dissolved if New York AG seeks 'nuclear option’: MSNBC legal analyst

Former president Donald Trump is about to face some "comeuppance," according to MSNBC legal analyst Barbara McQuade.

McQuade, a former federal prosecutor, made the statement after a New York judge ruled Thursday that Trump must sit for a deposition as part of Attorney General Letitia James' civil investigation into his company's business practices.

"You may remember that Corey Lewandowski, who was a former Trump campaign manager, famously said words to the effect of, 'It's not a crime to lie to the media,'" McQuade said. "And that's true, and I think Donald Trump has gotten away with that adage for a long time, but it is a crime to lie under oath at a deposition. And I think one of the reasons he has fought so hard to avoid this deposition is this is where truth matters, and so he can't lie his way out of it, he can't exaggerate out of it."

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"So when he sits in that deposition chair as he has been ordered to do and as I'm sure will be affirmed on appeal, Donald Trump will face that comeuppance, where he has to tell the truth or assert a privilege like the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, which he has said is something that is invoked only by mobsters and criminals, so he finds himself in a very difficult spot, because if he lies now, it does matter," she added.

Asked later in the segment about potential consequences for Trump and his company in the case, McQuade noted that it's a civil investigation for fraud.

"So the consequences there could be money damages — for example, if there are back taxes that are owed, if there were victims here, lenders who would not otherwise have made these loans who lost money in the deal — they'd have to pay damages," she said.

"But the nuclear option here is that Attorney General James actually has the power to dissolve corporations that are involved in widespread fraud. It's what happened with the Trump Foundation, so it could even happen here with the Trump Organization," McQuade added. "The other thing that could happen is this information could be used in the criminal case. We see the Manhattan DA investigating some of the very same acts under a criminal lens ... which could also bring with it in addition to monetary penalties, potential prison time."

Watch below.

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