By Dan Berman and Shania Shelton, CNN
From CNN's Lauren del Valle, Kara Scannell and Jeremy Herb
Donald Trump Jr. is now testifying in the New York civil fraud trial against him, his family, and their company.
He is being questioned by the Assistant Attorney General Colleen Faherty, who is expected to press him on his involvement in the financial documents at the center of the lawsuit.
From CNN's Lauren del Valle
Donald Trump’s eldest son, Don Jr., is set to testify in the civil fraud trial against the family and their business.
Donald Trump Jr. is named as a defendant in the $250 million lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general’s office against the former president, his company and several executives, including three of his adult children.
The lawsuit accuses Trump Jr. and his brother Eric of knowingly participating in a scheme to inflate their father’s net worth to obtain financial benefits like better loans and insurance policy terms.
“As Executive Vice Presidents, the three children were intimately involved in the operation of the Trump Organization’s business,” the complaint states.
In a deposition taken last year, Trump Jr. distanced himself from the financial statements Judge Arthur Engoron had already ruled to be fraudulent in a summary judgment before the trial began.
“I had no real involvement in the preparation of the Statement of Financial Condition and don’t really remember ever working on it with anyone,” Trump Jr. said.
“Again, people may have asked me about stuff tangentially that I gave them an answer to that they may have then utilized as a basis of knowledge to come up with whatever, but, no, not specifically as it relates to, you know, knowledge about the financial statement,” he added. Donald Trump Jr. has worked in commercial leasing for the Trump Org., including the company’s 40 Wall Street property at issue in the lawsuit.
Trump Jr. became a trustee of his father’s revocable trust when he took office and certified the statements of financial condition in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
He testified in his deposition that he relied on the accounting and legal departments at Trump Org. when he signed the paperwork.
Read more about Donald Trump Jr.'s testimony.
From CNN's Lauren del Valle, Kara Scannell and Jeremy Herb
A banking expert testified Wednesday that Donald Trump and his company benefited more than $168 million by obtaining favorable loan terms on transactions where the former president personally guaranteed the loans.
The New York Attorney General’s office called Michiel McCarty to testify about his assessment of the $168 million in ill-gotten gains.
McCarty analyzed the lending documents related to transactions at issue in this case for the following Trump Organization properties: 40 Wall Street in New York, The Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Florida, Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago, and the Old Post Office project in Washington DC.
McCarty calculated the difference in interest payments that Trump might have paid with a commercial real estate loan that would have had a much higher interest rate than the rate he obtained by personally guaranteeing the loans on the basis of financial statements that inflated his net worth.
He determined the Trump Organization saved on interest for the properties:
Trump’s attorney Chris Kise argued repeatedly in objections that the expert should not be permitted to suggest what loan rate Trump Org. could have gotten because no trial evidence has shown the lenders would have changed the loan terms if they knew Trump’s net worth was inflated based on the asset valuation in his financial statements.
Judge Arthur Engoron overruled the defense objections, reminding Kise of the summary judgment that already found Trump and his company liable for fraud before the trial started.
From CNN's Jeremy Herb and Lauren del Valle
Judge Arthur Engoron wanted to hear directly from Donald Trump.
Last Wednesday, after Trump had apparently spoken about Engoron’s law clerk — in violation of the judge’s gag order — the judge briefly paused the New York civil fraud trial testimony and said he was “going to hold a hearing right now” on the matter and would call his first witness: Donald J. Trump.
Engoron asked Trump if he would like to be on the witness stand.
Trump didn’t hesitate, pushing back his seat at the defense table instantly to stand and walk into the witness box. Wearing a blue tie, pinstripe shirt and navy suit, Trump raised his right hand, and swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Trump’s surprise appearance as a witness under questioning from the judge was an astonishing moment even in a year of unprecedented firsts for a former president who has been indicted four times and now faces the prospect of criminal trials all playing out while he runs for the White House in 2024.
This episode — where Trump’s alleged violation of a gag order by attacking his perceived opponents could, in theory, have led to his imprisonment — was a stark reminder of the difficulty he will face navigating his campaign rhetoric with the legal realities and constraints of the courtroom.
Once Trump was on the stand, Engoron put on his lawyer hat and launched into a calm interrogation of the former president, reading back what Trump had told reporters outside the courtroom only hours earlier.
“This judge is a very partisan judge with a person who is very partisan sitting alongside him — perhaps even much more partisan than he is,” Trump had said.
Before lunch, Trump’s lawyers claimed his statement was not about the judge’s clerk, but about Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, the witness who had also been sitting next to the judge. It was a claim that strained credulity, given Trump’s previous attacks.
But Engoron wanted to hear it directly from Trump.
“To whom were you referring,” Engoron asked Trump about his comments in the hallway.
“You and Cohen,” Trump said.
“Are you sure you didn’t mean the person on the other side?” Engoron asked, a reference to his clerk, who was still seated, keeping a straight face, just to his right.
“Yes,” I’m sure,” Trump responded.
During the first week of the trial, Engoron enforced a gag order barring parties from speaking about his staff, in response to a social media post from Trump attacking Engoron’s clerk and showing a picture of her with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat.
Trump had already been fined last week $5,000 because his post hadn’t been taken down from his website, something his lawyers said was in inadvertent, and warned there would be more severe penalties for additional violations – even threatening imprisonment.
Donald Trump Jr. is now testifying in the New York civil fraud trial against him, his family, and their company.
He is being questioned by the Assistant Attorney General Colleen Faherty, who is expected to press him on his involvement in the financial documents at the center of the lawsuit.
Donald Trump’s eldest son, Don Jr., is set to testify in the civil fraud trial against the family and their business.
Donald Trump Jr. is named as a defendant in the $250 million lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general’s office against the former president, his company and several executives, including three of his adult children.
The lawsuit accuses Trump Jr. and his brother Eric of knowingly participating in a scheme to inflate their father’s net worth to obtain financial benefits like better loans and insurance policy terms.
“As Executive Vice Presidents, the three children were intimately involved in the operation of the Trump Organization’s business,” the complaint states.
In a deposition taken last year, Trump Jr. distanced himself from the financial statements Judge Arthur Engoron had already ruled to be fraudulent in a summary judgment before the trial began.
“I had no real involvement in the preparation of the Statement of Financial Condition and don’t really remember ever working on it with anyone,” Trump Jr. said.
“Again, people may have asked me about stuff tangentially that I gave them an answer to that they may have then utilized as a basis of knowledge to come up with whatever, but, no, not specifically as it relates to, you know, knowledge about the financial statement,” he added. Donald Trump Jr. has worked in commercial leasing for the Trump Org., including the company’s 40 Wall Street property at issue in the lawsuit.
Trump Jr. became a trustee of his father’s revocable trust when he took office and certified the statements of financial condition in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
He testified in his deposition that he relied on the accounting and legal departments at Trump Org. when he signed the paperwork.
Read more about Donald Trump Jr.'s testimony.
A banking expert testified Wednesday that Donald Trump and his company benefited more than $168 million by obtaining favorable loan terms on transactions where the former president personally guaranteed the loans.
The New York Attorney General’s office called Michiel McCarty to testify about his assessment of the $168 million in ill-gotten gains.
McCarty analyzed the lending documents related to transactions at issue in this case for the following Trump Organization properties: 40 Wall Street in New York, The Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Florida, Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago, and the Old Post Office project in Washington DC.
McCarty calculated the difference in interest payments that Trump might have paid with a commercial real estate loan that would have had a much higher interest rate than the rate he obtained by personally guaranteeing the loans on the basis of financial statements that inflated his net worth.
He determined the Trump Organization saved on interest for the properties:
Trump’s attorney Chris Kise argued repeatedly in objections that the expert should not be permitted to suggest what loan rate Trump Org. could have gotten because no trial evidence has shown the lenders would have changed the loan terms if they knew Trump’s net worth was inflated based on the asset valuation in his financial statements.
Judge Arthur Engoron overruled the defense objections, reminding Kise of the summary judgment that already found Trump and his company liable for fraud before the trial started.
Keep reading about the testimony here.
Judge Arthur Engoron wanted to hear directly from Donald Trump.
Last Wednesday, after Trump had apparently spoken about Engoron’s law clerk — in violation of the judge’s gag order — the judge briefly paused the New York civil fraud trial testimony and said he was “going to hold a hearing right now” on the matter and would call his first witness: Donald J. Trump.
Engoron asked Trump if he would like to be on the witness stand.
Trump didn’t hesitate, pushing back his seat at the defense table instantly to stand and walk into the witness box. Wearing a blue tie, pinstripe shirt and navy suit, Trump raised his right hand, and swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Trump’s surprise appearance as a witness under questioning from the judge was an astonishing moment even in a year of unprecedented firsts for a former president who has been indicted four times and now faces the prospect of criminal trials all playing out while he runs for the White House in 2024.
This episode — where Trump’s alleged violation of a gag order by attacking his perceived opponents could, in theory, have led to his imprisonment — was a stark reminder of the difficulty he will face navigating his campaign rhetoric with the legal realities and constraints of the courtroom.
Once Trump was on the stand, Engoron put on his lawyer hat and launched into a calm interrogation of the former president, reading back what Trump had told reporters outside the courtroom only hours earlier.
“This judge is a very partisan judge with a person who is very partisan sitting alongside him — perhaps even much more partisan than he is,” Trump had said.
Before lunch, Trump’s lawyers claimed his statement was not about the judge’s clerk, but about Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, the witness who had also been sitting next to the judge. It was a claim that strained credulity, given Trump’s previous attacks.
But Engoron wanted to hear it directly from Trump.
“To whom were you referring,” Engoron asked Trump about his comments in the hallway.
“You and Cohen,” Trump said.
“Are you sure you didn’t mean the person on the other side?” Engoron asked, a reference to his clerk, who was still seated, keeping a straight face, just to his right.
“Yes,” I’m sure,” Trump responded.
During the first week of the trial, Engoron enforced a gag order barring parties from speaking about his staff, in response to a social media post from Trump attacking Engoron’s clerk and showing a picture of her with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat.
Trump had already been fined last week $5,000 because his post hadn’t been taken down from his website, something his lawyers said was in inadvertent, and warned there would be more severe penalties for additional violations – even threatening imprisonment.
Read more about Trump's courtroom appearance.
