Former President Donald Trump arrived at a lower Manhattan courthouse Monday morning for his civil trial over charges he overinflated the values of his many properties.
The Republican 2024 presidential frontrunner, 77, left Trump Tower in Midtown at around 9 a.m. to head to the Manhattan Supreme Courthouse downtown, where he will face trial over New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million lawsuit accusing him of fraud.
The non-jury trial is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. with opening statements from both sides — James’ team and lawyers for Trump, the Trump Organization and co-defendants including the former president’s sons and long-time confidants.
Trump has repeatedly denied the claims, and posted on Truth Social Sunday night that he would personally appear in court to fight the charges.
“I’m going to Court [Monday] morning to fight for my name and reputation,” he posted late Sunday.
The former president also used the opportunity to lash out at James and at Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing the case, calling him “unfair, unhinged, and vicious in his pursuit of me.”
Trump is accused of making false statements in business documents to secure favorable terms with banks.
That includes his penthouse at Trump Tower, where the ex-president was photographed entering Sunday – and which he claimed was 30,000 square feet when it’s actually closer to just 11,000 feet.
Trump and his sons Donald Jr. and Eric Trump, as well as his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen are all listed as potential witnesses at the trial, which could last until December.
However, the former president and his close associates aren’t expected to testify for several weeks into the proceedings.
James has claimed that Trump, his business and his children overstated the value of his assets by as much as $3.6 billion a year.
Her suit aims to force Trump to pay back to the state some $250 million in penalties, halt Trump’s ability to run businesses in New York and bar him and his team from buying commercial property for several years.
Engoron handed James a decisive victory in court last week, when he ruled that Trump ran a years-long fraud scheme by lying on company documents.
He revoked the New York “business certificates” belonging to the Trump Organization and any other New York-based business run by Trump or his family — while ordering that an independent third party will be tasked with “managing the dissolution of the canceled LLCs.”
Engoron will ultimately rule on six remaining claims in James’ lawsuit following the trial.
“For years, Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth to enrich himself and cheat the system,” James said in a statement Monday morning.
“We won the foundation of our case last week and proved that his purported net worth has long been rooted in incredible fraud. In this country, there are consequences for this type of persistent fraud, and we look forward to demonstrating the full extent of his fraud and illegality during trial,” she said.
“No matter how rich or powerful you are, there are not two sets of laws for people in this country. The rule of law must apply equally to everyone, and it is my responsibility to make sure that it does.”
–Additional reporting by Priscilla DeGregory