Summary
Here is a wrap-up of the hearing’s key events:
Eric Trump’s lawyer Christopher Kise gave an approximately 10-minute uninterrupted speech against the judge, Arthur Engoron, before Eric Trump took the stand. Kise made vague references to campaign contributions made by the court staff which hints to what the team says is “perception of bias”.
Eric Trump admitted that at the time of a conference call in 2021 about the financial statements, he was aware of the New York attorney general’s investigation. Prosecutors asked him whether it is his testimony today that he has no recollection of a call that covered the same subject matter of the NYAG investigation, of which he was aware at the time. Eric Trump said that he does not recall a specific call.
Eric Trump responded to signing a severance agreement with former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, saying that Weisselberg will not make disparaging comments about executives or employees of the Trump Organization in exchange for a $250,000 payment, given in installments. “I’m cetainly not a lawyer, but the seems to be the standard language of a severance agreement,” Eric Trump said.
Judge Arthur Engoron told Eric Trump’s team that he will continue to exchange notes and consult with his law clerks at any time and any place, despite complaints from the defense. Eric Trump’s lawyer Chris Kise continued to push back and insisted that he still needed to make a record. According to Kise, an appeal should be brought at the end of the case. Engoron said that he will issue a written decision at the end of the day.
That’s it for today as we wrap up the blog. We’ll be back on Monday for Donald Trump’s hearing at the Manhattan courthouse.
Updated
Judge Arthur Engoron told Eric Trump’s team that he will continue to exchange notes and consult with his law clerks at any time and any place, despite complaints from the defense, MSNBC’s Lisa Rubin reports.
NEW: Engoron tells Team Trump he will continue to exchange notes with and consult his law clerks at any time and any place, and I have an unfettered right to do so. If you want to appeal, you have more than enough ammunition.
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) November 3, 2023
Eric Trump’s lawyer Chris Kise continued to push back and insisted that he still needed to make a record. In response, Engoron asked how often does he need to complain about this.
Kise insists he still needs to make a record. How often do you need to complain about this? Engoron said. Kevin Wallace then showed his own impatience, insisting they have been doing this for 4 weeks and transparently disrupting the AG’s presentation of the case.
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) November 3, 2023
Accoridng to Kise, an appeal should be brought at the end of the case. Engoron said that he will issue a written decision at the end of the day, Rubin reports.
(The written decision presumably will give guidance to the defense about when and how they can object to the conduct they find offensive/inappropriate.)
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) November 3, 2023
The hearing is now over.
Donald Trump is set to appear in court on Monday to deliver his testimony.
Eric Trump responded to signing a severance agreement with Allen Weisselberg, former Trump Organization chief financial officer, saying that Weisselberg will not make disparaging comments about executives or employees of the Trump Organization in exchange for installments of $250,000 for a total of $2 million.
NYAG Prosecutor Andrew Amer pulled up the agreement for the courtroom. He asked Eric Trump to respond to the agreement’s language barring comments about executives. When asked whether he had worked on the agreement personally, Eric Trump confirmed and noted.
“I’m cetainly not a lawyer, but the seems to be the standard language of a severance agreement,” Eric Trump said.
“He’s a man who worked at the company for 50 years. 10 years before I was born he worked at the company,” he said,referring to Weisselberg. Eric Trump told prosecutors that he did not consult his father for the agreement and he was the main person who made the agreement.
Updated
Eric Trump is done with his testimony for today.
The judge is returning to the morning conversation about the principal law clerk and the court staff, the Guardian’s Lauren Aratani reports.
Eric Trump: 'I rely on the accounting office'
NYAG prosecutor Andrew Amer first brought up testimony from Trump employee Patrick Birney, who said he had a call with Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr about the statement of financial conditions.
Prosecutors have been trying to get the Trump family to talk directly about the statements, but of course, they remain evasive. They maintain they had no idea that the statement even existed until they were sued over the documents.
“We had thousands of conversations about the statement of financial condition after this exercise,” Eric Trump, referring to the lawsuit, speaking in a rushed, loud voice. “I don’t remember the call,” he added.
More documents were pulled up for Eric Trump, including certification agreements with Deutsche Bank that he signed. When Amer asked whether Trump intended the banks to use the statement of financial condition to confirm the Trump Organization could fulfill the loan’s obligation, Eric Trump said, “I don’t choose what the bank relies on. He also said he believes it was “absolutely accurate”. “I wouldn’t sign something that wasn’t accurate,” he added.
Amer ultimately asked Eric Trump what he did to ensure that the 2021 statement of financial condition that he signed off on included fair and accurate representations of his family’s assets.
“I rely on the accounting office, one of the biggest accounting firms in the country,” he said, referring to Whitley Penn, who the Trump Organization hired after long-time Trump accounting firm Mazars USA dropped them as a client. “I relied on a great legal department,” he said.
Eric Trump denied personally reviewing any of the data in the financial statement.
Updated
Eric Trump admitted that at the time of a conference call in 2021 about the financial statements, he was aware of the New York attorney general’s investigation, MSNBC’s Lisa Rubin reports.
Eric Trump is back on the stand and admits that at the time of a 2021 conference call about the statements of financial condition, he was aware of the AG’s investigation and that it had to do with his assets were valued in those statements.
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) November 3, 2023
NYAG prosecutor Andrew Amer asked Eric Trump whether it is his testimony today that he has no recollection of a call that covered the same subject matter of the NYAG investigation, of which he was aware at the time.
Eric Trump said that he does not recall a specific call, Rubin reports.
Is it your testimony today that you have no recollection of a call that covered the same subject matter of the attorney general investigation, of which you were aware at that time? Amer asks. Eric says he does not remember a specific call.
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) November 3, 2023
Here are some images coming through the newswires of the courthouse:
Trump lawyer on where he read reports of campaign contributions by court staff: 'Breitbart'
Trump lawyer Christopher Kise gave an approximately 10-minute uninterrupted speech against the judge, Arthur Engoron, before Eric Trump took the stand.
Kise made vague references to campaign contributions made by the court staff which hints to what the team says is “perception of bias.”
NYAG prosecutor Andrew Amer, who has been questioning Eric Trump, just told Engoron that this has been “a waste of time.” Another prosecutor asked Kise where he read the reports and Kise said, “I want to say it’s Brietbart,” which garnered audible groans from the audience.
In giving a response, mentioning that he was elected three times as a judge, Engoron quipped: “I’ll let everyone in the room decide what they think about Brietbart.”
“I don’t regard this as political,” Engoron concluded.
Now Eric Trump is finally being called to the stand.
Updated
We’re starting off with judge Arthur Engoron reminding Trump’s team not to make comments about his law clerk.
“I hope I made myself clear yesterday,” Engoron said with a nod. Trump’s lawyer Chris Kise stood up and told the judge that there is “perceptions of bias” in the case and he should be able to get things on the record about that.
Responding, Engoron said that he is thinking about the safety of his law clerk. “I don’t want to endanger the safety of my staff,” he said. “You can say whatever you want about me,” he added.
Kise emphasized that the “perceptions of bias” needs to be “addressed in the record”. He said that Engoron’s ruling, as is Donald Trump’s perception, is “against us on every major issue”.
Engoron said Kise wants to get things on the record but he has already “said all of this, in those exact words”. This back and forth has so far eaten up 15 minutes of a short trial day. Eric Trump is sitting there with his lawyers, waiting to take the stand.
Updated
Eric Trump begins testifying on second day of court appearance
Eric Trump’s testimony has started again.
The testimony of Donald Trump’s younger son follows the testimony of his brother, Donald Trump Jr, earlier this week.
Both have repeatedly claimed to either not recall of have no knowledge of the statements of financial conditions from the Trump Organization that is at the center of this $250m civil fraud lawsuit.
Engoron addressed the Trumps’ lawyers about their comments that they have never seen a judge pass so many notes with his clerk, the Messenger’s Adam Klasfeld reports.
Justice Engoron addresses the defense lawyers' comments that they've never seen a judge pass as many notes with his clerk.
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 3, 2023
“I don’t want to endanger the safety of my staff,” Engoron said in response to defense lawyer Chris Kise on how to make their record about their complaints about the clerk.
Engoron: Do you feel the need to make further record as things stand now?
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 3, 2023
Kise: I think so, your honor.
“Notice, you can say whatever you want about me…[And] that has been taken advantage of,” Engoron adds, Klasfeld reports.
Engoron says: "I don’t want to endanger the safety of my staff."
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 3, 2023
He notes later, "Notice, you can say whatever you want about me. [...] And that has been taken advantage of."
Trump routinely attacks Engoron, without penalty.
Updated
Judge Arthur Engoron has just walked into the courtoom.
He is letting photographers in the room to take some photos, the Guardian’s Lauren Aratani reports.
Eric Trump arrives in courtroom
Eric Trump has just walked into the courtoom.
Here he was earlier this morning making his way to the Manhattan courthouse:
Updated
I’m in the courtroom this morning. Eric Trump is scheduled to resume his testimony this morning. Media presence outside the courthouse was thin again, making it hard to tell that a Trump is taking the stand.
Prosecutors were diving into conversations that Eric Trump and his brother, Donald Trump Jr had with a Trump Organization employee about their father’s net worth.
Attorney Andrew Amer was starting to get into questions on when Eric Trump became aware of the attorney general’s investigation in his father’s net worth, though Trump’s attorney made objections that cut off questioning for the day.
Staff from the New York attorney general’s office, including attorney general Letitia James herself, is already in the courtroom. Trump’s team had yet to show up.
In a video posted to X, NYAG Letitia James gave a recap of yesterday’s hearing.
James said:
“As a trustee of the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust, Donald Trump. Jr often made financial and business decisions on behalf of his father.
He testified that he signed multiple documents confirming the accuracy of Donald Trump’s statements of financial condition…but those documents were not accurate and he knew it.
Eric Trump took the stand and insisted that he had never heard about his father’s statements of financial condition before our investigation.
He told us his job was just to pour concrete but his emails tell a different story. On multiple occaisions over the years, Eric Trump worked on his father’s statements of financial condition.”
Today, we heard testimony from Donald Trump's sons and co-defendants, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) November 2, 2023
They pretend that they were not involved in their family's fraudulent business.
But the facts tell a very different story. ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/m5X0B8saa0
Good morning,
Eric Trump is set to return to the Manhattan courthouse today as a defendant in his father’s $250 million civil fraud lawsuit brought forth by New York attorney general Letitia James.
James is accusing Donald Trump and several top executives – including his eldest sons – from the Trump Organization of fraudulently inflating the value of the former president’s properties to secure better loans from banks.
During yesterday’s hearing, Eric said multiple times that he does not recall or was not involved in processes surrounding the financial statements.
Earlier this week, Eric’s brother Donald Trump Jr – also a defendant – testified in court. Like his brother, Donald Jr repeatedly claimed that he had no knowledge surrounding the Trump Organization’s statements of financial condition, despite prosecutors producing various documents in court that they claimed to dispute the Trumps’ claims.
Following yesterday’s hearing, James tweeted: “They pretend that they were not involved in their family’s fraudulent business. But the facts tell a very different story.”
The case has drawn ire from Donald Trump himself who lashed out at the judge overseeing the trial in a fiery Truth Social post yesterday. “He is the fraudster, not me,” the former president said, referring to judge Arthur Engoron.
Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates.
Updated
