Former President Donald Trump stands by, ready to testify at New York Supreme Court on Monday, November 6, 2023, in New York. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
Donald Trump stood up to a New York judge and criticized the state attorney general who is suing him on Monday.
He did this while he was on the witness stand during his civil fraud trial, defending his wealth and expressing his frustration with a case that puts his real estate business at risk.
The ex-president’s sharp testimony led to a reprimand from the judge, “This is not a political rally.”
During his highly anticipated testimony about property values and financial statements, Trump frequently made personal attacks on state Judge Arthur Engoron, accusing him of bias. He also criticized New York Attorney General Letitia James, referring to her as, “political hack.”
He confidently celebrated his real estate enterprise, declaring, “I have billions of dollars more in value than what the financial statements indicate,” and contested allegations of deceiving banks and insurers.
“This is the opposite of fraud,” he declared.
Speaking about James, a Democrat whose office filed the lawsuit, he stated, “She is the one committing fraud.”
The contentious interactions and frequent criticisms from the judge highlighted Trump’s refusal to conform to the formal courtroom decorum governed by legal rules and protocols, showcasing the legal challenges he’s grappling with while pursuing a White House comeback in 2024.
Furthermore, it served as a stage for the former president and prominent Republican presidential contender to once again convey to his supporters his allegations of political mistreatment by government attorneys and judges.
“People are sick and tired of what’s happening. I think it is a very sad day for America,” Donald Trump reporters outside the courtroom.
The fraud case doesn’t carry the same risk of imprisonment as Trump’s upcoming criminal cases, but it strikes at the very core of the brand he’s built over decades. Engoron has already ruled that Trump committed fraud by inflating his financial statements, which casts doubt on his future control of Trump Tower and other prominent properties.
In this non-jury trial, various other claims made by James against Trump, his company, and top executives, including his eldest sons, are being addressed. James seeks to compel the defendants to return what she alleges to be more than $300 million in ill-gotten gains and to bar them from conducting business in New York.
Trump has shown a high level of involvement in his fraud trial, feeling upset by the insinuation that his claimed net worth is lower than he asserts.
“I’m worth billions of dollars more than the financial statements,” he said Monday on the stand, telling a state lawyer, “You go around and try and demean me and try and hurt me, probably for political reasons.”
His testimony began with a confrontational beginning, during which the judge, at one point, directed a comment to Trump’s attorney, stating, “I beseech you to control him if you can. If you can’t, I will.”
Called in by the state’s lawyers, Trump strongly objected to the notion that he had ever planned to deceive financial institutions. He argued that he had been quoted out of context or taken too seriously in previous public statements about his business transactions and Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate.
Trump insisted that the disclaimers in his financial statements addressed any errors. He reiterated his stance that no one had suffered harm, while state attorneys argue that Trump gained advantages such as lower interest rates based on the wealth portrayed in his financial statements.
“Not one bank lost money. Not one insurance company lost money,” he said.