Donald Trump Jr. showcased his salesmanship skills on the stand Monday — painting his dad as an “artist of real estate” while detailing his family’s “very sexy” property portfolio at his New York civil fraud trial.
Don Jr., 45, returned to Manhattan Supreme Court to testify in the $250 million case — this time to face friendly questioning by Trump defense lawyers seeking to rebut New York Attorney General Letitia James’ claims about the family business.
“He’s an artist with real estate. He sees things that other people don’t,” Don Jr. said about the former president as he testified about dad Donald Trump’s real estate prowess.
James alleges that Trump, 77, his sons Don Jr. and Eric, his company the Trump Organization and executives lied for a decade on annual financial statements, exaggerating his net worth by billions a year to dupe banks and get better loan and insurance terms.
After James’ office put on its case for the last six weeks — including calling Trump, his eldest sons and his daughter Ivanka to testify — the ex-president’s legal team began presenting its defense with Don Jr. as the first witness.
The attorneys displayed a slideshow titled “The Trump Story,” which laid out the history of the family’s real estate empire going back to Don Jr.’s great-grandfather, who built hotels in the Yukon territory of Canada.
Trump “learned a lot of business” from his grandfather, Don Jr. testified, noting that his dad “saw New York City and Manhattan as the ultimate frontier.”
The Queens-born mogul was “very good” at finding “the sexiness in a real estate project, seeing things that others couldn’t see or envision” — and changed the development industry by adding luxury amenities “that are now commonplace,” his firstborn testified.
Don Jr. was asked a series of questions about various Trump Org properties, including Trump World Tower in Manhattan and the Trump National Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Fla. — over both of which he gushed.
“It became a very popular building,” he said of Trump World Tower near the United Nations headquarters on the East Side of Manhattan. “Derek Jeter lived there, [it’s] a very sexy place.”
The shortstop bought the 88th-floor, 5,425-square-foot penthouse in 2001 directly from Donald Trump for nearly $13 million. He sold it in 2012.
Don Jr. also said his father turned a “flat swamp” in the Sunshine State that no one else saw value in into the Trump National Golf Course in 1999.
“It was literally a flat swamp in West Palm Beach, Fla.,” he testified. “Everyone looked at him like he was crazy, but I think it’s one of the finest golf courses in the world.”
His glowing descriptions of Trump properties also included likening Mar-a-Lago to one of the only “American castles” and calling the Plaza Hotel the “crown jewel of New York.”
AG lawyers had objected to the slideshow more than once, but Justice Arthur Engoron allowed it to continue to be shown during the testimony.
“I think it’s relevant to get the historical perspective,” Engoron said. “Let him go ahead and say how great the Trump Organization is.”
Don Jr. — whose testimony two weeks ago was marked by jokes throughout — started the day Monday with a quip.
“I’d say it’s good to be here, your honor, but I have a feeling that the attorney general would sue me for perjury if I said that,” he said before launching into his testimony.
Trump Sr., Eric and Ivanka were all called to testify by the AG’s office over the last two weeks.
Trump lawyers have said they intend to recall Eric.