August 10, 2022

Man Who Once Said “If You’re Innocent, Why Are You Taking the Fifth?” Takes the Fifth

Niyi Fote/TheNEWS2/Zuma

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Perhaps you remember when, in 2016, then-not-yet-President Trump disparaged Hillary Clinton for taking the Fifth during a congressional investigation into her private email server. “The mob takes the Fifth,” he said at a campaign rally. “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”

The comment was hypocritical then, and it’s hypocritical now. Today, Trump refused to answer questions under oath in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil investigation into his business dealings. It was one part of a very bad week for the former president.

Trump tried his best to get out ahead of the allegations of hypocrisy.

“I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?'” he wrote in a statement. “Now I know the answer to that question. When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice.”

I never thought I’d see the day when Trump admitted he was wrong. I guess we both stand corrected.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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