Former President Trump clashed frequently with the judge overseeing his New York fraud trial as the former president spent hours on the witness stand in Manhattan on Monday.
Trump’s highly anticipated testimony grew chaotic, with the judge asking Trump’s attorney to take control of his client. The former president also ticked off his political grievances from the witness stand, to which the judge responded that the court hearing was “not a political rally.”
The trial puts Trump’s long storied career as a real estate mogul and business executive in major jeopardy. At stake are Trump’s business licenses and the potential for him to lose control of some of his most famed properties.
Follow below for live updates from The Hill’s Ella Lee in New York.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said in remarks outside the state’s Supreme Court that she was undeterred by what she called “distractions” and “name calling” by Trump during his hours on the witness stand Monday.
“He rambled, he hurled insults but we expected that,” James told reporters.
“But I will not be bullied, I will not be harassed. This case will go on,” she concluded noting that the judge has already proved the crux of the fraud case she has brought against Trump.
— Rema Rahman
Trump briefly addressed cameras assembled outside the courtroom as he left for the day, arguing the case should be dismissed.
“It’s a terrible thing that’s happening here. We’re taking days and days, and weeks and weeks, and it goes on and then you look at the outside world and what’s happening,” Trump said.
“But of course they’re getting their wish, because I don’t have to be here for the most part, but I sort of do have to be here because I want to be here, because it’s a scam,” Trump said. “And this is a case that should have never been brought, and it’s a case that now should be dismissed.”
—Brett Samuels
Trump’s legal team said shortly after he wrapped up his testimony that they intend to file a mistrial in the former president’s fraud case.
The grounds for the motion were not immediately clear but appeared to reference the judge’s principal clerk who has become an unwitting main character in the trial.
“We obviously will be moving for mistrial … we don’t want to put anyone at risk,” Trump attorney Alina Habba said.
— Ella Lee
Trump has finished testifying in his civil fraud case, following a contentious day of testy back-and-forth between the former president, the New York attorney general’s office and the judge.
The former president may be called as a witness in the defense’s case, which is expected to begin later this week after Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump testifies Wednesday.
— Ella Lee
Trump defended Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, while his work on the business’ statements of financial condition came under fire.
The former president said the government came for Weisselberg “viciously and violently” because he happened to “work for me,” calling Weisselberg’s tax fraud conviction a “very sad thing.”
“If I never ran for president — and certainly, never won — he would’ve been just like a lot of other people,” Trump said.
“He did a good job for me for a long time,” the former president continued.
— Ella Lee
Trump reiterated his legal team’s often-argued assertion that the New York attorney general office’s case is outside the statute of limitations.
“You’re going into ancient history,” Trump said. “But that’s OK, that’s the way it’s been working in this one.”
He also repeated his team’s argument that a disclaimer clause in the business’ statements of financial condition absolve them of any falsely reported information within those documents.
“Therefore, you have no case,” Trump said.
The former president added that the disclaimer clause “goes on forever,” after which state lawyer Kevin Wallace quipped that the clause “isn’t the only thing that goes on forever,” drawing laughter in the gallery.
— Ella Lee
Trump reprised a familiar claim that the New York attorney general’s case has “no victim” as his testimony resumed Monday afternoon.
“We’re trying to figure out, why are you doing this?” Trump said of the lawsuit, veering away from state attorney Kevin Wallace’s line of questioning about Trump’s Chicago property.
“No one understands it. Well, I understand it — it’s called pol-i-tics,” the former president continued, enunciating each syllable of the word.
— Ella Lee
The trial on Monday has resumed, and Trump has retaken the witness stand.
Trump attorney Alina Habba railed against New York Attorney General Letitia James and Judge Arthur Engoron during remarks outside the courthouse where she called the judge “unhinged” and complained that she was “yelled at” in the courtroom.
“What I’m seeing is such a demise of American judicial system and democracy,” Habba told reporters, in a clip shared by the Trump campaign.
Habba spent a considerable amount of time attacking James, claiming that her case was falling apart and that Trump was actually worth a lot more than the financial statements of condition at the heart of the case.
“She doesn’t know how to get out of it because her politics won’t allow her. She calls him a bully; she says he’s going to bring out racial slurs, he’s going to say things today and taunt her. Well, Ms. James, you taunted him,” Habba said.
— Rema Rahman
The trial is breaking for lunch after a morning of contentious questioning of Trump, who sometimes treated his testimony like a stump speech.
Court will resume at 2:15 p.m.
— Ella Lee
Trump railed against Forbes when presented with a 2022 article detailing a 2015 conversation in which Trump appeared to admit he intentionally misled others about his net worth because “it was good for financing.”
“Having a high net worth is good; having a good net worth is a positive thing. I can’t say it’s not,” Trump said when presented with the article.
State attorney Kevin Wallace asked Trump whether his statements to Forbes were accurate or if he was misquoted, to which Trump replied deriding the outlet as “owned by China.”
“I have very little respect for Forbes,” Trump said.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s ex-fixer and personal attorney, testified last month that the former president asked him and CFO Allen Weisselberg to inflate his net worth to be “higher on the Forbes list,” a reference to the outlet’s billionaire’s list. Trump fell off that list last month.
— Ella Lee
Trump raged again on the witness stand, this time against New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and the trial judge, calling them “frauds” and “political hacks.”
“It’s a disgrace that a case like this is going on; all you have to do is read the legal scholars — the papers — and you’ll know,” Trump said, raising his voice. “This is a political witch hunt.”
State attorney Kevin Wallace attempted to ask his question again, whether Trump believed the values of his properties were understated on his statements of financial condition. Trump ignored the question and continued his rant.
“Even yesterday, she’s out there saying ‘fraud, fraud.’ The fraud is her,” Trump said, referring to James.
“He called me a fraud, and he didn’t know anything about me,” Trump said of Judge Arthur Engoron.
During the rant, Wallace paced in circles smiling and shaking his head.
“You done?” Wallace asked when Trump took a pause.
“Done,” Trump replied.
— Ella Lee
Trump’s testimony has largely leveled out and is more focused on the property valuations and financial statements from the Trump Organization at the heart of the case.
The first hour of Trump’s testimony was rife with chaos, where at one point the judge asked Trump’s lawyer to control his client.
Trump’s answers to the New York state lawyer questioning him have appeared to be more responsive than those before an ordered break.
The judge has so far only chimed in once, when Trump began to detail Aberdeenshire, Scotland — where he has a golf property — the “oil capital of Europe.”
“Irrelevant, irrelevant,” Engoron objected, interrupting Trump.
Trump is so far only expected to testify in the case Monday of this week.
— Ella Lee
A state lawyer drew attention to Trump’s 2020 presidential loss while reviewing the former president’s financial statements.
“I was so busy in the White House,” Trump said when asked about the 2021 statements of financial condition, calling his priorities “China, Russia and keeping our country safe.”
“Just to clarify the record, you weren’t president in 2021 were you?” state lawyer Kevin Wallace asked.
“No, I wasn’t,” replied Trump, who lost his reelection bid to now-President Biden. Trump left the White House on Jan. 20, 2021.
— Ella Lee
As the court took a 15-minute break, Trump walked out of the courtroom and made the motion of zipping his lips as he walked by a reporter who tried to ask him a question.
When walking back into the courtroom, flanked by his attorneys, Trump gave a thumbs up to those gathered in the courthouse hallway, opting to not stop for remarks as he had before the trial started Monday.