Donald Bender, a former accountant for former President Donald Trump, testified in Trump's New York civil fraud case that his client withheld documents from him.
Bender claimed in court that he discovered at one point that Trump, and other people within the Trump Organization, were not providing all relevant documents when he was putting together the former president's financial statements, per NBC News.
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The former Trump accountant testified in court that the former president had failed to provide "paper documents over a number of years," per the outlet. He asserted that then-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and Trump had sent letters to him claiming they had "not knowingly withheld from you any financial records or related data that in our judgment would be relevant to your compilation."
Bender also said that the information he used to put together Trump's financial statements came from the company rather than the former president himself. He concluded his direct testimony just before 1 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, and the court went into a brief lunch recess. Bender was the first witness called in the trial.
After leaving the courtroom for the lunch break, Trump reiterated his claims that the trial was "rigged" and added that he attended the trial because of how "fraudulent" it is and went after New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the suit against him.
"This trial is a rigged trial, this is a fraudulent trial. The attorney general is a fraud and we have to expose her as that. You see what's going on, this is a rigged deal," Trump told reporters outside the courtroom.
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James filed the lawsuit alleging fraud by the Trump Organization last year and is seeking $250 million in damages, along with hoping to block Trump from doing business in New York. Justice Arthur Engoron has already found Trump liable for the fraud claims, but now the nonjury trial will proceed to examine the six claims brought by James.
Trump told reporters earlier on Tuesday that he intends to testify in the fraud trial "at the appropriate time."