Civil Fraud Case Against Trump: Donald Trump Jr. resumes his testimony in a fraud case against his father
The civil fraud trial of Donald J. Trump was marked by tense moments in the courtroom, the former president’s improvised statements outside of it — and his unusual appearance on the witness stand, much earlier than expected.
Here’s a look at the highlights from the first month of a trial that focused on allegations that Mr. Trump and his family business inflated the value of his assets to secure favorable loans.
Fines for the former president.
Mr. Trump has twice run afoul of a strict silence order imposed on him by the judge in the case, Arthur F. Engoron, who fined him a total of $15,000 for assaulting a member of the court staff .
Judge Engoron imposed his order on October 3, the second day of the trial, after the former president attacked his law clerk, Allison Greenfield, on social media. Mr. Trump posted a photo of her with Senator Chuck Schumer, accused her of bias and said she was “making this case against me.”
Although the order is limited, Trump violated it twice in less than a week. The first violation appeared to be unintentional: A version of the social media post remained on Trump’s campaign website for weeks. When Judge Engoron discovered that the law was still ongoing, he fined the former president $5,000 – a nominal amount that came with a warning that further violations could mean harsher penalties.
Last week, Mr. Trump went further: “This judge is a very partisan judge,” he told reporters. “With a person sitting next to him who is very partisan – maybe even much more partisan than him.”
Judge Engoron reinterpreted that comment as a reference to Ms. Greenfield, although Mr. Trump denied this and instead said it was a reference to Michael D. Cohen — his former fixer, who testified against Mr. Trump that day.
A former fixer takes the stand.
During the first month of the trial, the most watched testimony came from Mr. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former lawyer, who criticized him on television, in social media posts and with his own book.
Mr. Cohen spent two days on the stand testifying that Mr. Trump had lied about the value of his properties. He also acknowledged that he himself had told lies – although he swore that this was done “at the direction of, in consultation with and for the benefit of Mr. Trump.”
Sitting at the defense table, Mr. Trump struggled to contain his anger during Mr. Cohen’s testimony. He folded his arms tightly over his chest, tossed his head back and forth, and scowled.
In his testimony, Mr. Cohen said that Mr. Trump instructed him to “reverse engineer” the financial statements to achieve the former president’s desired net worth. Mr. Cohen spoke calmly and confidently as he talked about Mr. Trump’s obsession with his wealth.
During cross-examination, Mr. Trump’s lawyers took advantage of Mr. Cohen’s inconsistent statements about the former president and his own crimes, leading him to admit to lying a number of times. At one point, Mr. Cohen appeared nervous as he stumbled over rapid-fire questions about whether Mr. Trump had personally instructed him to inflate the numbers on his annual financial statements. Mr. Cohen said that was not the case, prompting Mr. Trump and one of his lawyers, Alina Habba, to throw up their hands in victory.
Outside the courtroom, Mr. Trump said it had been proven that Mr. Cohen was a liar.
Trump unexpectedly took the stand.
After Mr. Trump’s comments outside the courtroom about the “partisan” person sitting next to him, Judge Engoron called the former president to the stand — a surprise appearance by Mr. Trump, who is expected to testify later this month.
Judge Engoron wanted to directly question Mr. Trump about his comment to determine whether it was another violation of the gag order.
From the stand, Mr. Trump, wearing a navy blue suit and cutting short his usual monologue, emphasized that his comments in the courthouse hallway were about Mr. Cohen, not the judge’s clerk, Ms. Greenfield.
But, Mr. Trump added, he thought Ms. Greenfield “may have been dishonest, and I think she is very biased against us.”
It was a brief appearance – only about three minutes – and did not faze the judge. “I find that the witness is not credible,” Judge Engoron said, imposing the fine as Mr Trump stared blankly into space.