Donald Trump Jr. took the witness stand in a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday to defend himself in a $250 million civil fraud trial that threatens his father’s real estate empire — cracking a few jokes while denying working on financial statements key to the case.
Don Jr., 45, is a co-defendant with his father, brother Eric and the family’s real estate company in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ ongoing trial that alleges Donald Trump inflated the value of his assets over the years to get loans and better insurance terms from banks, bailing him out. hundreds of millions of dollars.
“I don’t,” the former president’s eldest son said when asked if he ever worked on his father’s “statement of financial condition” — the document that James claims Trump falsified from 2011 to 2017 inflating his net worth into the billions. annually.
“Accountants work on it, that’s what we pay them,” Don Jr. said.
“I was not involved in the preparation of this financial statement,” he said later.
Donald Trump Jr. testified in a Manhattan courtroom on Wednesday.POOL/AFP via Getty Images
During the testimony — which lasted about 75 minutes Wednesday and featured James watching from the front row — Don Jr. joked that he “didn’t understand” accounting language.
“I rely on professionals and CPAs. We pay millions of dollars and [they] has a great degree,” he said, drawing laughter from the courtroom gallery.
He also engaged in banter with Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron and attorney AG Colleen Faherty over the pronunciation of the word “cancellable.”
Faherty asked Don Jr. what the “Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust” is, prompting Engoron to interject: “Now that we finally have the trustee in the courtroom, we can finally ask if itvocable or revocable.”
“Your Honor, that’s a good question, but I’m not sure which one is correct,” Don Jr. replied.
Don Jr. there was no shortage of humor in the stands Wednesday.POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Faherty then asked a question using repronunciationvocable, to which Don Jr. joked, “I’m not sure what it is, I just understand revocable” — prompting further laughter from the gallery.
At one point, the judge asked Faherty and Don Jr. — who were talking a mile a minute — to slow down so the court stenographer could keep up.
“I’m sorry, Your Honor, I moved to Florida but I keep the New York beat,” Don Jr. replied cheerfully.
“We noticed,” answered Engoron.
The trial alleges that Donald Trump inflated the value of his assets to get better loan terms and insurance from banks. Anadolu via Getty Images
Don Jr. delivered her first quip before standing up around 2:50 p.m., saying, “I should have put on makeup” as a group of news photographers snapped her picture.
He answered many questions about the hierarchy of power at the Trump Organization, including explaining that his brother Eric and he held the same position in the family’s real estate empire from 2011 to 2017.
“We’re on the same plane,” Trump Jr. said. “We have our own silos and we try to maintain them.”
“I focus a lot on our international business, our hotel company, the development of new licensing deals and so on. I can do anything and everything,” he added.
Then in 2017, when Trump, 77, took office as president, power was transferred entirely to the two eldest brothers and to the Trump Org’s chief financial officer at the time, Allen Weisselberg, Trump Jr. explained.
Weisselberg ultimately left the company because of “some legal issues that he was dealing with,” Trump Jr. said, referring to Weisselberg’s arrest, eventual conviction and brief prison term for tax fraud.
Don Jr. engaged in a joke about the pronunciation of the word “cancellable.” AFP via Getty Images
The trial is in its fifth week and is expected to last until December.
Eric is expected to appear in front of the witness on Thursday after completing his sister’s interrogation.
The former president is set to be called to testify on Monday and daughter Ivanka is scheduled to testify on Wednesday, as the AG’s final witness.
Trump’s side has 128 potential witnesses listed — though it’s not known how many of those will be called.
Ivanka was also previously a defendant until an appeals court dismissed it due to the statute of limitations.
The trial is in its fifth week and is expected to last until December. AFP via Getty Images
Engoron will not allow him to leave as a witness, finding that his testimony is still relevant. He can try to appeal the decision before Wednesday to try to get out of having to appear in court in person.
Earlier Wednesday, two other witnesses were called including former Trump Org. vice president David Orowitz and state investment bank expert witnesses.
Michiel McCarty, the chairman and CEO of an investment bank and the state’s lone expert witness, said the bank lost $168 million because of Trump’s alleged padding of its assets.
He said because of that, Trump was given a lower interest rate by the banks, saving $168 million and therefore causing the banks to lose the same amount.
The courtroom became tense as Trump’s attorneys cross-examined McCarty, with Engoron repeatedly urging them to continue the questioning and repeatedly reminding them to phrase the questions in positive rather than negative terms.
“I can see why this line of questioning would take two or three hours,” Engoron said. “Please stop making one question into four or five.”
But Trump lawyer Christopher Kise dismissed Engoron’s interference and said McCarty was an important witness for cross-examination.
“This witness is the only witness they have that even hints at ill-gotten gains,” Kise said. “We need to challenge his credibility and memory. I don’t understand why we’re always interrupted, it’s becoming a bit of a pattern, with respect.”
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