Donald Trump Jr. showed off his salesmanship skills on the show Monday — painting his father as a “real estate artist” while detailing his family’s “very sexy” property portfolio at his civil fraud trial in New York.
Don Jr., 45, returned to Manhattan Supreme Court, dressed in a dark gray suit, white shirt and light pink tie, to testify in the $250 million case – this time to face friendly questioning by Trump’s defense attorneys seeking to refute the Attorney General’s allegations New York State Letitia James on the family business.
“He’s an artist with real estate. He sees things that other people don’t,” Don Jr. said. while launching into roughly four hours of testimony about the business prowess of Donald Trump’s father and the Trump real estate empire.
James – who watched from the front row of the gallery again – claimed that Trump, 77, his son Don Jr. and Eric, his Trump Organization company and executives lied for a decade on annual financial statements, exaggerating his net worth by billions. years to cheat the bank and get better loan terms and insurance.
After James’ office presented its case over the past six weeks — including calling Trump, his eldest son and his daughter Ivanka to testify — the former president’s legal team began presenting a defense with Don Jr. as the first witness.
Lawyers showed a slide show titled “The Trump Story,” which traces the history of the family’s real estate empire back to Don Jr.’s great-grandfather, who built hotels in Canada’s Yukon region.
Trump “learned a lot of business” from his grandfather, Don Jr. testified, noting that his father “sees New York City and Manhattan as the ultimate frontier.”
Donald Trump Jr. in Manhattan Supreme Court for the Trump Organization fraud trial on November 13, 2023.Stephen Yang for the NY Post Don Jr. called his father an “artist with real estate” while testifying at the trial.Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
The Queens-born mogul is “very good” at finding “sexiness in real estate projects, seeing things that other people can’t see or imagine” — and changing the development industry by adding luxury amenities “that are now commonplace,” he said. the eldest son testified.
For about four hours he stood, Don Jr. asked by his lawyer and Eric’s brother, Robert Clifford, about various Trump Org properties, including Trump World Tower in Manhattan and the Trump National Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Fla. — both he ejaculated.
“It’s become a very popular building,” he said of the Trump World Tower near the United Nations headquarters on Manhattan’s East Side. “Derek Jeter lives there, [it’s] very sexy place.”
The former New York Yankees 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. testified that Trump could see “sexiness in real estate projects.” REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg
Don Jr., executive vice president of the Trump Org, also said his father turned a Sunshine State swamp that no one else had seen as valuable into the Trump National Golf Course in 1999.
“It’s really a flat swamp in West Palm Beach, Fla.,” he testified. “Everybody looks at it like it’s crazy, but I think it’s one of the best golf courses in the world.”
His glowing description of Trump’s properties also included likening Mar-a-Lago to America’s only “palace” and calling the Plaza Hotel “New York’s crown jewel.”
The AG’s attorneys objected to the slide show more than once, but Judge Arthur Engoron allowed it to continue to be shown during testimony.
“I think it’s relevant to get a historical perspective,” said Engoron. “Let him go ahead and say how great the Trump Organization is.”
Don Jr. testified about how his father turned a “flat swamp” in Florida into the Trump National Golf Course. Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images
Don Jr. — whose testimony two weeks ago was marked by jokes throughout the day — began Monday with a quip, telling the judge: “I’m glad to be here, Your Honor, but I think the attorney general would sue me for perjury if I said that.”
Cross-examination by attorney AG Colleen Faherty lasted only a few minutes — but she wasted no time in pointing out that the Trump Org was not the thriving corporation that Don Jr. portrayed it to be.
“Doesn’t the 18th hole of this golf course really fall into the ocean?” Faherty asked about Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles on the Rancho Palos Verdes Peninsula in southern California.
Don Jr. calling the Trump Organization’s property Mar-a-Lago the only “America’s palace”. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
“Yes,” replied Don Jr.
Faherty also asked if the Trump Org “rejected” the Trump International Hotel Waikiki in Hawaii and sold it to Hilton.
“If they want to buy it for millions of dollars, I’m OK with that,” Don Jr. replied.
Don Jr. joked in court about AG James suing him for perjury.rendan McDermid/Pool Photo via AP
Outside the 60 Center St. courthouse, he slammed a brief grilling by Faherty as “boring” — and ripped James as an overzealous attorney general who would destroy all New York businesses by pursuing victimless transactions.”
He also told reporters on his way out of the courtroom that it had been a “tough day” for him and his family after the news that his aunt Maryanne Trump Barry, his father’s sister, had died.
“Obviously, it was a difficult day but I still have to deal with this,” he said. “It’s a difficult day for me and my family … and the grandson.”
Sherri Dillon, a tax attorney at the law firm Morgan Lewis and former outside counsel for the Trump Org, was the second witness called by the Trump side. He was questioned for about an hour and a half about appraisals he worked on for Trump’s Seven Springs ranch in Westchester County and Trump Westchester National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor.
The former president’s legal team has said they will finish presenting their case on December 15, and it’s possible Trump will be called to the stand again between now and then.
Eric Trump will be among the witnesses, attorneys confirmed, although it is unclear when he will testify. It is unlikely that Ivanka Trump will be recalled.
The case threatens Trump’s empire, with James seeking more than $300 million in what he claims are ill-gotten gains and ending Trump’s ability to do business in New York.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
