Trump, on witness stand, derides judge, denies fraud…

Source: Politico | November 6, 2023 | Erica Orden

Trump, on witness stand, derides judge, denies fraud and talks of castles and windmills

In a series of outbursts while testifying, Trump assailed the judge who is overseeing his civil fraud case.

NEW YORK — Testimony by former president Donald Trump quickly descended into bitter sniping Monday among the judge, Trump’s attorneys and a lawyer for the New York attorney general’s office, as Trump’s discursive answers and outbursts prompted the judge to repeatedly admonish him and threaten to curtail his testimony.

During his first three hours on the witness stand, Trump repeatedly lost his temper and attacked the judge, railing against the person who will decide the fate of his business empire.

“It’s a terrible thing you’ve done. You know nothing about me,” Trump said during one verbal strike from the witness stand. “You believe that political hack back there,” he said, looking toward New York Attorney General Tish James, who brought the $250 million civil fraud case against Trump, his adult sons and officers in the Trump Organization.

“Either people are very stupid, or there’s a fraud,” Trump said, referring to an aspect of a crucial pretrial ruling in which the judge, Justice Arthur Engoron, found that Trump systematically inflated his assets to obtain favorable terms from banks and insurers. As a result of that ruling, the trial is largely about what penalties Trump and his company will face — and because there is no jury, Engoron will decide that issue as well.

Trump’s primary defense, which he has offered publicly since the start of the trial and which he repeated during his testimony, is that his financial statements contained “very, very powerful” disclaimers and therefore weren’t intended for use by banks or insurers.

“We have a disclaimer clause that says do your own due diligence, don’t under any circumstances count on anything in here,” Trump said. Of the financial statements, he said: “If you were borrowing money … they were not really documents that the banks paid much attention to. They looked at the deal, they looked at the asset … but these were not very important.”

After Trump launched into yet another monologue about the disclaimers, the judge stopped him.

“No, no, no,” Engoron said. “We’re not going to hear about the disclaimer clause. If you want to hear about the disclaimer clause, read my opinion again — or for the first time, perhaps.”

“You’re wrong in your opinion,” Trump replied, adding: “He called me a fraud and he didn’t know anything about me.”

Aside from grimacing, Engoron didn’t react to Trump’s attacks. But the judge did become incensed at several points when Trump seemingly refused to answer questions he was being asked by a lawyer for the attorney general’s office.

“I beseech you to control him if you can,” Engoron told Trump lawyer Chris Kise less than an hour into the former president’s turn on the witness stand. “If you can’t, I will,” the judge said. “I will excuse him and draw every negative inference that I can.”

“This is not a political rally. This is a courtroom,” Engoron told Kise, ordering him to counsel his client to provide answers responsive to the questions.

Trump was in a sullen mood from the start. On his way into the courtroom on Monday morning, he called the case “political warfare” and said it was something that occurs in “banana republics.”

With a scowl on his face and his shoulders hunched, he took the stand, raised his right hand to be sworn in and sat in the witness box to face questions in what is just the current chapter in a long line of legal problems that Trump is grappling with as he seeks a return to the White House.

It didn’t take long for Engoron to grow frustrated as Trump delivered repetitive and non-responsive answers.

Asked to name properties he believed were over- or under-valued, for example, Trump responded by saying his Trump Tower triplex apartment had likely been overvalued, then launched into a soliloquy about brand value.

During one heated exchange, Trump attorney Alina Habba snapped at the judge, telling him: “You are here to hear what he has to say.”

Engoron shouted in response, commanding her to “sit down.”

“No, I am not here to hear what he has to say!” he yelled. “I am here to hear him answer questions.”

From the witness stand, Trump interjected, leaning into the microphone: “This is a very unfair trial — very, very — and I hope the public is watching.”

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In between battling the judge, Trump’s lawyers heaped praise on their client, with Kise calling Trump’s answers “great” and “brilliant,” even while admitting, “I’m just not sure what he’s answering.” Kise also referred to Trump as the “former and soon-to-be chief executive of the United States.”

At times, Trump sprinkled his testimony with some of the signature subjects and phrases likely familiar to anyone who has observed one of his political rallies. “I’m not a windmill person,” he said at one point. In another moment, he said of his golf course in Aberdeen, Scotland: “At some point, maybe in my very old age, I’ll go there and do the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen.”

“Aberdeen is the oil capital of Europe, very rich,” Trump began to say, but he was interrupted by the judge shouting, “Irrelevant!” Trump murmured, “It is.”

Hours into his testimony, Trump attempted to read from a piece of paper he retrieved from his pocket. “I’d love to read this, your honor, if I could. Am I allowed to do that?” Trump asked. When the judge said no, Trump muttered sarcastically: “I’m shocked, I’m shocked.”

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