Former President Donald Trump may have just dug his own damn grave by testifying under oath Monday in the New York civil fraud trial against him. The $250 million lawsuit was brought by the New York attorney general’s office, led by Attorney General Letitia James.
It claims that Trump and his co-defendants committed fraud multiple times by inflating assets on financial statements to receive terms on commercial real estate loans and insurance policies.
The trial is civil, not criminal, but may ruin Trump’s New York family business. Kevin Wallace questioned Trump for the attorney general’s office.
Trump admitted that he did see financial statements from the trust from time to time and gave his input. “I would look at them, I would see them, and I would maybe on occasion have some suggestions.” He also stated that the bankers didn’t pay attention to what they were doing, which serves as part of his defense.
“We’ll explain that as this trial goes along. This crazy trial goes along. Because we’re bringing in the bankers. Very big bankers,” Trump said. “They will explain exactly what their process is. They were not really documents that the banks paid much attention to. They looked at the deal.”
When asked by Wallace if he prepares financial statements, Trump diverted and went after Judge Arthur Engoron.“I’m sure the judge will rule against me because he always rules against me,” Trump said after commenting about the statute of limitations in the case.
“The comment that I always rule against him, which as you know is not true anyway, certainly didn’t answer the question,” Engoron said.
Then the judge addressed Trump directly. “So Mr. Trump, please just answer the question,” he said. “You can attack me, you can do whatever you want, but answer the question.”
When asked about building financial statements, Trump replied: “If I wanted to build up the statement, like you said I did before you found out just how rich we are, I would’ve added brand value here and I would’ve increased it by tens of millions of dollars.”
The judge had to remind him that certain questions simply required yes or no answers and to not give speeches. “Mr. Kise, can you control your client?” Engoron asked Trump attorney Chris Kise. The judge added: “This is not a political rally. This is a courtroom.”
During his testimony, Trump also said: “This is a very unfair trial. Very, very and I hope the public is watching.”
Sadly, he remains the frontrunner for the 2024 presidential Republican nomination, though James filed the lawsuit that led to this trial in September 2022—two months before Trump launched his campaign.