A judge warned Donald Trump and others at his New York civil fraud trial to keep their voices down on Wednesday after the former president threw up his hands in frustration and spoke aloud to his lawyers while a witness was testifying against him.
Judge Arthur Engoron gave the admonition after Trump conferred animatedly with his lawyers at the defense table during real-estate appraiser Doug Larson’s second day of testimony at the Manhattan trial.
State lawyer Kevin Wallace asked Engoron to ask the defense to “stop commenting during the witness’s testimony”, adding that the “exhortations” were audible on the witness’s side of the room. The judge then asked everyone to keep their voices down, “particularly if it’s meant to influence the testimony”.
The 2024 Republican frontrunner was in court for a second straight day on Wednesday, watching the trial that threatens to upend his real estate empire and his wealthy businessman image. He attended the first three days, but skipped last week. On Tuesday, he left during an afternoon break to give a deposition in an unrelated lawsuit.
In a pre-trial decision last month, Engoron ruled that Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, committed years of fraud by exaggerating his asset values and net worth on annual financial statements used to make deals and get better terms on loans and insurance.
As punishment, Engoron ordered that a court-appointed receiver take control of some Trump companies, putting the future oversight of Trump Tower and other marquee properties in question. An appeals court temporarily blocked the order as an appeal of the pre-trial decision is pending.
Over the past three weeks, prosecutors have been building their case that Trump and his family knowingly inflated the value of their properties. Trump’s lawyers, in response, have been trying to argue that the valuations were accurate and any discrepancies were the fault of others.
Trump did not talk about the case on his way into court past TV cameras on Wednesday, saving his usual vitriol about the lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general, Letitia James, for a morning break.
Inside the courtroom, which is closed to cameras, Trump grew irritated as Larson testified.
In a series of questions, Trump lawyer Lazaro Fields sought to establish that Larson had, at one point, undershot the projected 2015 value of a Trump-owned Wall Street office building by $114m. Larson said the “values were not wrong – it’s what we knew at the time”.
Trump threw up his hands during the exchange.
On Tuesday, Larson testified that he never consulted with or gave permission for the Trump Organization’s former controller, Jeffrey McConney, to cite him as an outside expert in the valuation spreadsheets he used to create Trump’s financial statements.
Fields on Wednesday accused Larson of lying, pointing to a decade-old email exchange between McConney and the appraiser.
That touched off an angry back-and-forth between the defense and state sides, with Trump lawyer Christopher Kise suggesting that Larson could risk perjuring himself and needed to be advised about his rights against self-incrimination. State lawyer Colleen Faherty called Kise’s comments “witness intimidation”.
After Larson was escorted out of the courtroom, Kise insisted he was trying to protect the witness’s rights, while state lawyer Kevin Wallace complained that the defense was mounting “a performance” for the media.
Engoron allowed Larson to return and answer the question with no legal warning. Larson said he did not recall the email.
Asked again whether he understood that McConney had asked for his input in order to carry out valuations, a weary Larson said: “That’s what it appears.”
Trump railed about that exchange during a court break.
“See what’s happened? The government lied. They just lie. They didn’t reveal all of the information that they had,” Trump said. “They didn’t reveal all the evidence that made me totally innocent of anything that they say.”
Trump’s civil trial involves six claims in James’s lawsuit that were not resolved in Engoron’s pre-trial ruling, including allegations of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records. Engoron will decide the case, not a jury, because state law does not allow one in this type of lawsuit.
Wednesday’s dust-up was just the latest clash between Trump and Engoron, who frequently makes pop culture references and jokes during proceedings.
Nearly a dozen witnesses have testified in the trial so far, including Trump’s former accountants and Trump Organization executives. Trump has said that he will testify when called, though it is unclear when he will be called to the stand. The trial is scheduled to run until 22 December.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
