Civil fraud case against Trump: Ivanka Trump testifies in the fraud case against the Trump Organization
Donald J. Trump took the witness stand Monday in a packed New York courtroom in a trial that threatens the business empire underpinning his public persona as he begins a new run for the White House.
The lawsuit stems from a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, which accuses Mr. Trump and other defendants, including his companies and his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, of inflating the value of assets to obtain favorable loans and insurance deals. .
The judge, Arthur F. Engoron, ruled before the trial began five weeks ago that Mr. Trump and the other defendants were liable for fraud. He will decide Mr. Trump’s punishment. Ms. James has asked that Mr. Trump pay $250 million and that he and his sons be permanently barred from running a business in New York.
Mr Trump has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyers have argued that the assets had no objective value and that different valuations are common in real estate.
Here are five things we learned during Monday’s testimony:
Trump is proceeding cautiously
The former president gave mixed messages about the financial valuations at the heart of the case.
During the four hours Trump was on the stand, he acknowledged that he played a role in preparing his financial statements, saying he looked at them and occasionally had suggestions. He also continued to suggest in the statements that his assets were in fact undervalued.
But he also distanced himself from the documents, placing blame instead on former Trump Organization comptroller Jeff McConney; Allen H. Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer; and its external auditor Mazars USA.
Mr. Trump minimized the importance of the statements, saying the banks paid little attention to them. He also praised the disclaimers on the documents, saying they made it clear that the financial statements should not be trusted implicitly.
A Witness Box cannot contain him
Mr. Trump is eloquent and even explosive in his off-the-cuff speech, and Judge Engoron struggled to keep the former president in check on the witness stand.
Early in his testimony, Judge Engoron instructed Mr. Trump to answer a question posed to him by the attorney general’s lawyer, Kevin Wallace, telling him: “No speeches.” After the warning was ignored, Judge Engoron turned to Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Christopher M. Kise, and asked him to keep his client under control, adding: “This is not a political rally.”
From the witness stand, Mr. Trump said: “This is a very unfair trial. Really bad. And I hope the audience is watching.”
James is Trump’s main target
New York Attorney General Ms. James has emerged as a nemesis for the former president.
As he walked into the courtroom on Monday, Mr Trump called Ms James “racist” and continued to lash out at her from the witness stand. He called Ms. James, who sat in the front row of the audience, “a political hack” who had used the case in her bid to become governor.
At one point, Mr. Trump said, “People don’t know how good of a company I’ve built,” and accused the attorney general’s office of trying to humiliate him, pointing directly at Ms. James.
After the court hearing, Ms. James said that Mr. Trump had tried to create a distraction during his testimony, but she added that “the numbers don’t lie.”
Lawyers take silence orders seriously
While Mr. Trump went after Ms. James and Judge Engoron, he avoided mentioning the judge’s staff, particularly the judge’s chief clerk, Allison Greenfield.
He had previously attacked Ms. Greenfield because she, like the judge, was a Democrat, and his lawyers have argued that the frequent courtroom communications between the judge and Ms. Greenfield are inappropriate.
During the first week of the trial, Judge Engoron ordered Mr. Trump not to comment on members of his staff and imposed similar restrictions on his lawyers. Mr. Trump has been fined $15,000 for violating that silence order.
On Friday, Trump’s lawyers cautiously argued against the ban imposed on them.
Mr Kise called the gag order “restrictive,” prompting Judge Engoron to respond: “I am 1,000 percent convinced that you have no right or reason to complain about my confidential communications.”
Mr. Trump’s lawyers indicated they will seek a mistrial in response to the silence order.
When will it end?
There will be no hearing on Tuesday because it is election day.
On Wednesday, Trump’s daughter Ivanka will be the fourth and final Trump family member to testify. The attorney general’s office is then expected to drop its case.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers will then present a defense. They are expected to recall many witnesses who have already testified, including the defendants, and to call their own experts. On Monday they said they expect the process to be completed on December 15, a week earlier than expected.