Donald Trump took the stand Monday in the New York State civil financial-fraud case against him, a trial that could determine the future of the former president’s business and real-estate empire. Below is what happened as it happened.
In their summaries of the day’s developments in court, the New York Times and CNN highlight what Trump actually acknowledged and admitted amid all the acrimony and grandstanding. Recaps CNN:
Wallace pressed Trump to acknowledge the differing values in his statements of financial condition, the financial documents that have been ruled to have fraudulently inflated the former president’s net worth to obtain better loan rates. An expert for the attorney general determined the Trump Organization saved $168 million in ill-gotten gains.
Wallace pressed Trump on why valuations of properties were changed, such as his Trump Tower triplex, which was devalued on his financial statement in 2017 after a Forbes article found he had dramatically exaggerated the size of the apartment.
Trump did acknowledge in a noteworthy exchange that there were mistakes in the financial statements, such as the Trump Tower apartment valuation.
The value of the apartment fell from $327 million in 2016 to roughly $116.8 million in 2017 – which came after Forbes Magazine outed Trump in 2017 for claiming the apartment was more than 30,000 square feet when it turned out to be just under 11,000 square feet. Wallace asked Trump whether he was involved in the change.
“Probably,” Trump said, before giving several possible explanations.
Adds the Times in its overview of Trump’s testimony:
Mr. Trump, who was accused by Ms. James of inflating his net worth to defraud banks and insurers, acknowledged helping to assemble annual financial statements submitted to the banks.
“I would look at them, I would see them, and I would maybe on occasion have some suggestions,” said Mr. Trump … Although the admission appeared to bolster the attorney general’s case, Mr. Trump, seated 30 feet from Ms. James, also sought to minimize the import of the financial statements, which he said he largely left to aides. He noted that they contained numerous disclaimers, making them essentially “worthless.” Banks paid little attention to them, he said, before promising, unprompted, that some of his bankers would soon testify in his defense.
After court was adjourned, Trump stepped outside the courtroom and spoke to the media, saying that he thinks his testimony went “very well.” The former president once again denounced the case against him.
“This is a case that should have never been brought. It’s a case that should be dismissed immediately,” he said.
Trump continued, “I think it’s a very sad day for America,”
Outside the courthouse, Attorney General Letitia James seemed to take Trump’s fury from the stand in stride.
“He rambled. He hurled insults. But we expected that,” she said.
James maintained that the “documentary evidence” in the case is clear, adding that “The numbers don’t lie.”
“I will not be bullied. I will not be harassed. This case will go on,” she said.
Trump has been excused from the witness stand after the prosecution concluded its questioning following several hours of testimony. Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, is expected to take the stand Wednesday.
After she testifies, Trump’s legal team will then begin to present its defense with the trial expected to conclude around December 15.
While on the stand, Trump defended Allen Weisselberg, the former CFO of the Trump administration, who pleaded guilty to 15 criminal charges including tax evasion last year.
“People went after him viciously and violently because he worked for me,” Trump said.
He continued, “I feel very badly for him. He did a good job for me for a long time.”
Trump once again took the time to question the legitimacy of the case, telling Wallace he should “be ashamed of yourself.”
“I think this case is a disgrace,” he said. “It’s election interference, because you want to keep me in this courthouse all day long.”
Trump also called Engoron “hostile” and complained about the lack of a jury.
At one point, Trump went on an extended rant about how his actual net worth was “significantly higher” than what was listed on financial statements and made mention of a disclaimer clause included on the statements that “goes on forever.”
In response, Kevin Wallace from the attorney general’s office quipped, “That clause isn’t the only thing that goes on forever,” alluding to Trump’s lengthy responses.
Trump is back on the witness stand following a break for lunch. During the pause, the former president appears to have posted on his social media platform TruthSocial about Attorney General James and Judge Engoron.
One post features a photo of Engoron alongside a quote from the judge from the morning that reads, ““No, I’m not here to hear what [President Trump] has to say.”
In another, Trump reiterated his earlier words when he called James a “political hack.”
Attorney General Letitia James appears to have responded on Twitter to a claim made by Trump in court that she doesn’t know what 40 Wall Street is, despite it being one of the properties central to her claims.
The proceedings have paused temporarily for a lunch break.
When asked by the prosecution who was responsible in the Trump Organization for identifying potential fraud internally, Trump said that duty fell to all members of the business.
“I would say everybody,” he said.
Trump also said that he believed that the company’s accounting firm Mazars USA would raise any potential issues that were discovered in their financial documents.
“I would assume Mazars would come and recommend something and we’d amend that procedure,” Trump said.
In a stunning moment, the former president lashed out at Judge Engoron and Attorney General Tish James from the witness stand, echoing his rhetoric from the campaign trail and his social media.
After court resumed following the break, Trump was questioned at length about the valuations of his properties, a key element of the attorney general’s case against him.
He was asked about the change in valuation for his famed Trump Tower triplex with the assessment of the property changing from $327 million in 2016 to about $116.8 million in 2017, per CNN, and whether he directed the change on a financial spreadsheet.
“Probably, I said I thought it was too high,”he said. “I don’t know what’s too high anymore because I’m’ seeing things sold at numbers that are very high.”
Trump reportedly spent a lot of time waxing poetic about his various properties, calling Mar-a-Lago “beautiful” and a “success.” The Times reports that when Trump also went long on his Scottish golf course in Aberdeen — calling it an “artistic expression” and the city the oil capital of Europe — Engoron seemed to have enough.
“Irrelevant, irrelevant. Answer the question,” he said.
Trump is back on the stand following a brief break in the proceedings. As he headed into the courtroom, he gave the assembled media a thumbs up.
As notable as it is to see a former president on the witness stand, this is not the first time that Trump has testified in court. The Associated Press reports that, since 1986, Trump has testified in at least eight different trials and been questioned as a part of depositions. The subject of the trials ranged wildly from the USFL’s antitrust lawsuit against the NFL (Trump was a former USFL team owner) to a case where an Illinois grandmother took him to court over condos she purchased in his Chicago high-rise.
The AP describes what they found after analyzing years of transcripts and videos of Trump’s past testimonies:
They show clear parallels between Trump as a witness and Trump as a president and current candidate for the office. His rhetorical style in legal proceedings over the years bears echoes of his political verve: a mix of ego, charm, defensiveness, aggressiveness, sharp language and deflection. He has been combative and boastful, but sometimes vague and prone to hedging or being dismissive.
Most recently, Trump briefly took the stand in this civil case just a few weeks ago when Judge Engoron questioned the former president directly in connection to a possible violation of a gag order he put in place. The judge ultimately ordered Trump to pay a $10,000 fine.
The trial took a brief break for Trump to confer with his attorneys. When former president left the courtroom, he took the uncharacteristic move of not speaking to the media congregated in the hallway.
Just hours earlier, he took the time to rail against James and the trial, saying the situation is for “Third World countries.”
The back-and-forth between the judge and Trump’s legal team continued as Engoron urged the former president’s attorney to rein him in, so he can answer questions properly.
“I beseech you to control him if you can. If you can’t, I will. I will excuse him and draw every negative inference that I can,” the judge told Kise, per Politico.
Alina Habba reportedly told Engoron that he was there to hear what Trump has to say, sparking a rare flash of anger from the judge.
“I am not here to hear what he has to say! Sit down!,” Engoron said, per the New York Daily News.
Trump, who was still on the stand, then responded, “This is a very unfair trial. Very very. And I hope the public is watching.”
A hallmark of the first hour of Trump’s testimony has been Judge Arthur Engoron’s growing frustration with the nature of the former president’s long, winding answers. At one point, Engoron asked Christopher Kise, Trump’s attorney, “Mr. Kise, can you control your client?”
“This is not a political rally. This is a courtroom,” Engoron said, per CNN.
The judge called Trump’s responses “non-responsive” and “repetitive,” noting that they only have one day for Trump’s testimony.
Trump has taken the stand and is being questioned by Kevin Wallace, an lawyer with the attorney general’s office.
When Wallace asked why he placed his son Don, Jr. in charge of the financial trust that controls some of his assets in July 2021, Trump leaned into his familiar rhetoric alleging a political conspiracy against him.
“You and about every other Democrat, district attorney, A.G., and U.S. attorneys, etcetera, were coming after me from 15 different sides, all Democrats, all Trump haters,” the New York Times reports.
It was last September when Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against Trump, his eldest children, and members of the Trump Organization alleging that the defendants fraudulently inflated the value of Trump’s assets to banks and insurers with the intention of receiving more favorable rates on loans. Ivanka Trump, Trump’s oldest daughter, was later dismissed from the case after a judge ruled the claims against her went beyond the statute of limitations. James is seeking to permanently bar Trump and his family from operating a business in New York as well as to levy a $250 million fine.
Trump’s testimony comes after his sons Donald Jr. and Eric both testified before the court for two days each last week with the brothers claiming they had no involvement with the preparation of the company’s financial statements despite their positions with the firm. Their sister Ivanka is expected to testify later this week.
Trump will take the stand before two of the biggest targets of his recent ire: James, whom he has maligned as “racist,” and Judge Arthur Engoron, whom he believes is pursuing a political witch hunt against him. The morning of his testimony, Trump took to his social-media platform, TruthSocial, railing against both, writing, “Got a really Biased, Nasty, Club controlled, but often overturned, Judge, a Racist, Evil, and Corrupt Attorney General, BUT A CASE THAT, ACCORDING TO ALMOST ALL LEGAL SCHOLARS, HAS ZERO MERIT.”
But there’s a lot at stake for the instinctually combative former president. Engoron, who is the sole decider in this bench trial, ruled in September that Trump and his co-defendants were liable for fraud and ordered that his company’s business certificates be canceled and his assets placed under control of independent receivers. Though that action has been put on hold, the prospect of Trump ceding control of iconic properties such as Trump Tower continues to loom over the trial.
