![]() ![]() The trial is expected to last into December.Opinion Litman: Why Trump’s outlandish legal maneuvers are backfiring with the federal judge in the Jan. Trump’s lawyers said the financial statements were legitimate representations of the worth of unique luxury properties, made even more valuable because of their association with Trump. The judge has already ruled that some of Trump’s companies should be dissolved as punishment. James is seeking $250 million and a ban on Trump doing business in New York. The non-jury trial concerns six remaining claims in the lawsuit and how much Trump might owe in penalties. James scored an early victory when Engoron, a Democrat, ruled last week that Trump committed fraud by exaggerating the size of his penthouse at Trump Tower, claiming his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida was worth as much as $739 million and putting similar oversized valuations on office towers, golf courses and other assets. He claims that James, a Democrat, is wielding the justice system as a political cudgel to hobble his ongoing campaign. While grumbling that he’d rather be on the campaign trail, the Republican former president and 2024 Republican front-runner has used the waiting cameras in a courthouse hallway as a microphone for political messaging. Trump plans to testify later in the trial, but he doesn’t have to attend it now. It can’t be fraud when you’ve told institutions to do their own work,” Trump said Tuesday.Īfter Monday’s sometimes fiery opening statements, Tuesday’s testimony was so plodding that Bender twice let out a long breath on the stand. Trump, who denies any wrongdoing, said during one court break that he thought the trial was “going very well.” He reiterated key points of his defense, including that the financial statements bore disclaimers saying that they weren’t audited and that others “might reach different conclusions” about his financial position if they had more information. “They were not giving all of the documents that we needed,” Bender testified, explaining that “there were certain appraisals out there for a number of years that we had never seen.” Each spreadsheet was marked “PBC,” for “prepared by client,” in big, red letters, Bender said.īender testified that in some years, the Trump Organization failed to provide all documents necessary for producing the statements, despite attesting in letters to the account firm that it had provided all financial records. He ruled last week that all the claims were allowable under the statute of limitations.Ī lawyer for James’ office, Kevin Wallace, went on to suggest that he was using the 2011 document to show that Trump’s financial statements were prepared in the same manner - giving him and his company the final say over the valuations that appeared - for at least a decade.ĭonald Bender, an accountant who prepared the financial statements for years, testified that Trump’s company supplied the numbers that went into the documents. ![]() “I want to emphasize: This trial is not an opportunity to relitigate what I have already decided,” Engoron said. Trump also commented on the clerk on Monday, saying that she “should not be allowed to be in his ear on every single question” and “hates Trump.” Trump, the Republican front-runner for president in 2024, has repeatedly cast the lawsuit and trial as a political attack by New York’s Democratic attorney general, Letitia James. The post included a photo of Greenfield with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at a campaign event. Without naming Trump, Engoron said that a defendant in the case “posted to a social media account a disparaging, untrue and personally identifying post about a member of my staff.” He added that “personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, not appropriate” and not tolerated. It came after Trump recirculated a disparaging social media post about Engoron’s principal law clerk, Allison Greenfield. Judge Arthur Engoron issued the order, which applies to all parties in the case and pertains only to verbal attacks on court staff. ![]()
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