Closing summary
The hearing is over for today but Donald Trump Jr will be back in the stand tomorrow, followed by his brother Eric.
Today, the prosecution set the ground for their case that Trump Jr was an essential figure in the creation of the documents that proved his father’s fortune.
Trump Jr consistently downplayed his involvement. He told the court: “The accountants worked on it. That’s why we pay them.”
Here’s a quick glance back at what else happened in court today:
Donald Trump Jr answered several questions with “I don’t recall”, including queries about the roles he, his father and Allen Weisselberg had as trustees of the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust. He has said he does not recall much, including why there was a brief period in 2021 when he had resigned and then been restored on to the trust.
Michiel McCarty, an expert witness for the prosecution, told the court the Trump Organization’s lenders lost just over $168m due to fudged financial statements. Trump’s lawyers have been arguing through cross examination that the lenders had good relationships with the Trump Organization and had profited off their loans.
On the trial’s first day, the attorney general’s office played during their opening argument a series of video clips from depositions of defendants and witnesses, including one of Donald Trump Jr. In the video, Don Jr denies doing work that would have involved utilizing GAAP. The attorney general’s office is arguing that this is not true. The AG’s office submitted this clip into evidence for the day, implying it will become part of questioning.
Donald Trump Jr denied playing a role in the creation of a statement of financial condition from 2017, one of the financial documents at the center of the case. Prosecutor Colleen Faherty put a copy of the 2017 statement up on the court’s screen.
Trump Jr said that while he might have been asked for information about the assets that would be used to create the statements, he was not involved in filling them out.
“They could’ve asked me on any given day what deal was going on” and he would have had the “intimate knowledge” about the assets but had maybe not even known they would be used for the statements.
Court has adjourned for the day in the middle of this line of questioning. It will be back in session tomorrow at 10 am.
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Donald Trump’s lawyer Christopher Kise just interrupted testimony to ask the judge to tell the prosecutor to “move things along”.
“We spent an hour on what roles he had,” Kise said, arguing that the judge earlier that day had told the defense team to move along in their cross examination of a previous witness.
When prosecutor Colleen Faherty pulled up a document regarding a licensing deal that had a handwritten “okay” from Donald Trump – confirmed by his eldest son – Trump’s lawyers stood up to object again questioning the relevancy of the evidence.
“It all feeds into the financial conditions,” Faherty said, adding that she will show that the licensing deals were not included on future statement of financial conditions.
“Now you’re testifying, Colleen,” Trump lawyer, Alina Habba, interrupted.
Faherty went on to tell Trump’s lawyers, “I know you don’t like it when good evidence comes in.”
After some of his own questioning, the judge is allowing Faherty’s line of questioning to continue.
Donald Trump Jr tells court 'I don't recall' in response to series of questions
Donald Trump Jr was asked a series of question about the roles he, his father and Allen Weisselberg had as trustees of the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust. So far, he has said he does not recall much, including why there was a brief period in 2021 when he had resigned and then been restored onto the trust.
When asked whether his father is still a trustee of the trust, Trump Jr said, “I don’t recall”.
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We’re back from break. Judge Arthur Engoron made a quick joke with Donald Trump Jr back on the stand.
Prosecutor Colleen Faherty had asked about the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust.
“Now that we finally have the opportunity to ask an actual trustee: is it re-VOH-cable or REH-vocable?” Engoron asked.
Trump laughed and responded, “Your honor, it’s a good question but I actually don’t have the answer.”
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The court is taking a 15-minute break. So far, Donald Trump Jr has been on the stand for about half an hour. Prosecutor Colleen Faherty has been asking Trump to detail his role in the family business. Trump’s team has been trying to argue that they had no personal involvement in the making of the financial statements, though prosecutors are establishing the broad power the family had on the company.
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Donald Trump Jr said that he and his siblings, Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump had equal footing within the Trump Organization, though “we had our own silos”. Once their father became president, he and Eric Trump, along with former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, took over the business.
Trump said that he focused on the Trump Organization’s international business, overseeing things like their licensing deals.
Prosecutor Colleen Faherty asked Trump Jr multiple questions about what led Weisselberg to leave the company. Trump Jr denied any knowledge of what led him to leave the company. Weisselberg also stepped down from the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust, which oversees the company.
Weisselberg had served a few months in prison earlier this year for tax fraud. He was a witness earlier in the trial, though he said he did not recall much about what prosecutors had asked him about.
The New York attorney general’s office is trying to establish the role Donald Trump Jr played in his family’s company. Through a series of questions, prosecutor Colleen Faherty asked Trump to confirm that he started as a project manager for the company in 2001 and then was promoted to executive vice president.
Faherty asked Trump if he knew that there were units in Trump Park Avenue, a Trump-owned condo, that were rent-stabilized and if he was familiar with rent-stabilization laws.
“I was then, probably forgot most it by now,” Trump said, garnering light laughs for the courtroom.
Faherty also briefly brought up his involvement in the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago. Both the Chicago tower and the Park Avenue condo are properties listed as part of the case.
Prosecutor Colleen Faherty is starting off testimony by asking Donald Trump Jr about GAAP, or generally acceptable account principles.
Trump affirmed that he knows what GAAP is but denies serving in any roles where he would have needed to utilize the principles.
This is mirroring a clip prosecutors played for the courtroom on the first day of the trial where Trump similarly denied using accounting principles in his job, saying that is the reason the company hires accountants.
“I will rely on professionals and CPAs (certified public accountants),” Trump said.
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Donald Trump Jr takes the stand
About four hours into the trial’s proceedings for the day, Donald Trump Jr finally taking the witness stand. Prosecutor Colleen Faherty, who led the questioning of Michael Cohen last week, is at the helm again for the attorney general’s office.
This is the first time Donald Trump Jr has been inside the courtroom since the start of the case. He is listed as a defendant on the case, along with his brother Eric Trump.
Trump briefly sat with his father’s lawyers for photographers, who were allowed into the courtroom to take photos and videos.
Donald Trump’s lawyer Jesus Suarez is cross examining Michiel McCarty, the expert witness the attorney general’s office hired to help them make their case that lenders to the Trump Organization unwittingly gave out riskier loans to the company because of fudged financial statements.
Suarez asked McCarty whether he included in his analysis testimony from Trump Organization lenders that they knew the Trump Organization was conducting their own appraisals for their properties.
“No, it was not material to my analysis,” McCarty said.
Trump’s team has been arguing that the banks understood the risks they were taking on when giving out the loans and ultimately, they made money off the transaction.
Earlier in October, a representative from Deutsche Bank, one of the Trump Organization’s biggest lenders, testified that the company had thought numbers from the Trump Organization were “broadly accurate” and were “comfortable” with terms of the loans. The bank had required Trump to maintain a net worth of at least $2.5bn while the loan was out. The attorney general’s office argues that his net worth at the time was closer to $1.6bn.
And we’re back from lunch break. Michiel McCarty, an expert witness testifying on behalf of the state is still in the middle of cross-examination. McCarty estimated that Trump Organization lenders lost out on at least $168m because they inflated their self worth.
Before lunch, Trump’s lawyers said their cross examination could take up to three hours, which means Donald Trump Jr may not take the stand until later this afternoon.
Trump Organization lenders lost out on $168m in interest, expert witness testifies
Much of this morning’s testimony has been centered on the idea that the Trump Organization got lower interest rates because they inflated the value of their assets on financial documents. The loans they received from various lenders would have come with higher interest rates had they put more honest appraisals on various documents, the New York attorney general’s office is arguing.
The state hired an expert witness, Michiel McCarty, an investment banker, to calculate some of what the Trump Organization’s lenders lost out on because of the fudged financial statements. The number he calculated was just over $168m – specifically $168,040,168.
Trump’s lawyers have been arguing through cross examination that the lenders had good relationships with the Trump Organization and had profited off their loans.
Court has adjourned for lunch break. When we come back, McCarty will go back on the stand. If Donald Trump Jr takes the stand, it will be later this afternoon.
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Arthur Engoron appears to be getting upset at the pace of Trump’s lawyer’s cross-examination of the state’s expert witness, Michiel McCarty.
“I can see why this is going to take two or three hours,” the New York judge said, interrupting Trump lawyer Jesus Suarez’s cross-examination. “Please stop making one question into four or five.”
Another Trump lawyer, Christopher Kise, stood up defending the questions saying “we need to make our record of this witness”.
“We need to challenge his credibility, his memory … We should be allowed some latititude,” Kise said. “I don’t understand why we always get interrupted. It’s becoming a bit of a pattern, respectfully.”
“I stand by my ruling and my statements,” Engoron said.
The court will break for lunch from 1pm to 2:15pm, meaning Donald Trump Jr may not take the witness stand until later this afternoon.
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Cross-examination of the state’s expert witness, Michiel McCarty, is starting. Trump’s team will likely try to undercut what he just testified, that the Trump Organization got cheaper loans because they inflating the value of their assets on financial statements. Trump lawyer, Jesus Suarez, is conducting cross examination.
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The state’s expert witness, Michiel McCarty, is still on the stand. Prosecutors pulled up a report McCarty compiled where he calculated banks lost out on $168m because the Trump Organization had inflated the value of four of their properties, including 40 Wall Street, Trump Doral in Miami and the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago.
Here’s an image of what was shown in the courtroom:
Here's how McCarty got to the $168,040,168. He's saying that the banks lost X amount on the loans for these 4 properties, as a result of Trump's fraud:
— Erik Uebelacker (@Uebey) November 1, 2023
Doral - $72.9 million
Old Post Office - $53.4m
Chicago - $17.4
40 Wall St - $24.2 https://t.co/ysMaRW34Vb pic.twitter.com/pvDt2RGzEa
In objections throughout the testimony, Trump lawyer Christopher Kise said that McCarty is “testifying mathematics” and that “the loans are not ill-gotten gains”.
Court is on a brief morning break. The state’s expert witness is still testifying, and it’s unclear whether Donald Trump Jr will take the witness stand before the 1 pm lunch break.
Court releases deposition clip of Donald Trump Jr
On the trial’s first day, the attorney general’s office played during their opening argument a series of video clips from depositions of defendants and witnesses, including this one of Donald Trump Jr.
In his deposition, investigators asked Trump if he knew what GAAP, or Generally Acceptable Accounting Principles. Trump said he probably learned about it in his first year of business school. When the investigator asked what he was taught at Wharton, Trump said: “Well, I’m not an accountant, but that they are generally accepted.” Trump and the interviewer laughed at the answer.
Later in the video, Trump denies doing work that would have involved utilizing GAAP. The attorney general’s office is arguing that this is not true, that Trump, along with the rest of his family that served as executives of the Trump Organization, ultimately played key roles in valuing the assets of their properties.
The AG’s office submitted this clip into evidence for the day, implying that they will play this clip for Trump to respond to during his time on the stand.
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Michiel McCarty, the state’s expert witness is backing up the attorney general’s argument that even if lenders are not harmed by a company that gives them inaccurate financial statement, and makes money off the deal, they take on more risk if financial statements are inaccurate. If they had calculated that extra risk into the loans they gave to the Trump Organization, they would have made more money.
This is pretty much the core of what the trial is about. It’s a weird one because no one, including any companies, were not actively harmed by the Trump Organization’s fudged financial statements. Rather, it’s the state going after the Trump Org for bad and unethical business practices, even if there were no direct consequences from their actions.
The state law that allows the attorney general’s office to do this, Executive Law 63(12), gives the AG power to go after a company even if there was no harm allowed, a very broad power the state is using to go after the Trump Organization.
McCarty on the stand is essentially giving the state an opportunity to explain to the judge the risk companies unknowingly took on when doing business with the Trump Organization and how much money the company saved because of its illegal business practices.
Trump’s lawyers have argued against these claims, saying that the lenders were happy with their relationships with the Trump Organization, and that ultimately the company was accurately valuing their assets.
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Attorney general's expert witness takes the stand
The attorney general’s office is putting one more witness on the stand before Donald Trump Jr. They’re likely aware of the anticipation for the Trump family’s testimony to start, but they purposely chose to put this witness before the Trump testimonies.
Michiel McCarty chairman and CEO of investment bank M.M. Dillon & Co is serving as the state’s expert witness who is expected to talk about how the court can calculate disgorgement, or the profit the Trump Organization made off of the fudged financial statements at the center of the case. The state is asking for at least $250m, the amount they argue the Trump Organization made by inflating the value of their assets.
McCarty just spoke for the last 15 minutes about his qualifications that makes him fit to be an expert on the stand.
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Ahead of his eldest child taking the witness stand, Donald Trump went on a multi-post screed against the trial on Truth Social this morning. In the first part, posted around 2:30 am, Trump went off about Michael Cohen’s testimony and ended with a demand to “leave my children alone, Engoron. You are a disgrace to the legal profession!”.
The second post, another rant directed against “political hack” Engoron, ended with the line, “WITCH HUNT!!! ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!”
In the third post, Trump claimed “we won against Engoron in the Appeals Court”, likely referring to the court throwing out Ivanka Trump from the case over the summer because the claims against her were too old. Of course, the appellate court kept much of the case intact and allowed the trial to move forward. Trump’s appeal against Engoron’s pre-trial summary judgment, which found him guilty of fraud and could lead to the dissolution of his real estate business, is still going through the appeals court.
Trump said Engoron “put a RIDICULOUS GAG ORDER ON ME, which we will appeal. He fines me at levels never seen before.” Of course, even posting about a judge on social media and going off against him right outside the courtroom doors is seen as a huge digression from the respect defendants usually have to show judges. But then again, this whole trial is a digression from what usually happens in typical fraud trials.
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Judge Arthur Engoron just entered the courtroom, and yesterday’s witness David Orowitz, a former Trump Org exec, is wrapping up his testimony. Engoron mentioned today is a “busy day” for the trial.
As we wait for Donald Trump Jr to take the stand, here’s how the attorney general’s office described his role in the Trump Organization in their initial complaint filed September 2022:
Donald Trump, Jr. oversees the Trump Organization’s property portfolio and is involved in all aspects of the company’s property development, from deal evaluation, analysis and pre-development planning to construction, branding, marketing, operations, sales and leasing. Donald Trump Jr. is also responsible for all of the commercial leasing for the Trump Organization which includes Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street.
Trump clearly played a big role in a handful of the properties that are covered in the case. In the complaint, the AG’s office said that an appraisal valued 40 Wall Street at $220m in 2012, but the Trump Organization in financial documents valued it at $527m that same year. Expect granular questions from the AG’s office about how Trump Jr helped the company value specific properties like 40 Wall Street.
Letitia James is here, in her usual seat at the front of the audience benches in the courtroom. James, along with New York judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing the case, has been one of Donald Trump’s main targets when he rails about this trial outside the courtroom or on social media. Still, James has made it a point to show up, even if Trump doesn’t.
In a video posted to Twitter, James marked the 20th day of the trial (that’s not including weekends and holidays) by saying that “the truth of our case is clear, and the defendents are willfully choosing to ignore it”.
“The truth always comes out in the end.”
The facts of our case against Donald Trump are clear.
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) October 31, 2023
The truth always comes out in the end. ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/jLoXvmKdp6
Every morning Donald Trump is expected to come to the courtroom, there’s usually a big fanfare right at the steps of the courthouse and outside the courtroom.
This morning, the camera presence feels thinner, especially compared to last week, when Michael Cohen took the witness stand. Trump made it a point to show up to Cohen’s testimony, perhaps unable to resist the competing attention Cohen was getting.
But for his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, the first in the family to testify, Trump is not expected to show up. Take that as you will.
Trump Jr hasn’t shown up the court before, though he is listed as a defendant on the case. His brother, Eric Trump, has consistently shone up, sitting a few rows behind his father and mirroring his scoffs. Eric Trump is expected to testify tomorrow, and it’s unclear if Trump will show up.
Trump Jr testimony to kick off several days of family members in court
Good morning, and welcome to live coverage of Donald Trump’s fraud trial in New York. Today marks the start of what is set to be a days-long family affair in court, with Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, set to take the witness stand today.
Trump Jr, along with his brother Eric Trump, is listed as a defendant in his father’s fraud case. Sister Ivanka Trump was listed as a defendant until an appellate court ruled over the summer that the claims against her were too old. The three siblings had served as executive vice presidents of the Trump Organization.
So far, at least 19 witnesses have testified in the trial, which is in its fifth week, including former Trump Organization executives and accountants. Trump will be the first in the family to testify. Eric Trump is set to testify tomorrow, followed by Donald Trump himself on Monday and Ivanka Trump next Wednesday. Prosecutors have been trying to prove to New York judge Arthur Engoron that Trump and his family knowingly inflated the value of their assets to boost their net worth.
We’re following the trial live in the courtroom, so stay tuned for more updates.
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