Trump testimony wraps in New York civil fraud case: Recap

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.

At state lawyer Kevin Wallace’s request, Judge Arthur Engoron called a 15-minute break so that Trump attorney Chris Kise could speak with the former president about streamlining his testimony.

The break follows several outbursts from Engoron, who has suggested Trump is treating his testimony like a “political rally” and not answering the questions he’s being asked.

— Ella Lee

Trump’s responses to questions about his 40 Wall Street property drew ire from the judge.

“$550M is a very low number,” Trump said of the property. “All you have to do is look at a picture of the building and say that’s worth a lot more money. You wanna put up a picture?”

Engoron interjected again, telling Trump attorney Chris Kise to take control of his client.

“I would think, respectfully — of all witnesses — your honor would want to hear everything this witness has to say,” Kise said.

“No, I do not want to hear everything this witness has to say,” Engoron angrily replied.

Trump shook his head and smiled.

“I am not here and these people are not here to hear what he has to say; we are here to hear him answer questions,” Engoron continued. “It’s very simple. Is this an accurate number? It’s very simple.”

Trump then chimed in, unprompted.

“This is a very, very unfair trial. And I hope the public is watching,” Trump said.

— Ella Lee

New York state lawyer Kevin Wallace asked Trump whether he ever recalled one of his statements of financial condition “being off.”

“Yes, both high and low,” Trump testified.

The former president said his Mar-a-Lago estate was underestimated but he “didn’t do anything about it,” asserting that it was worth 50 to 100 times more than the New York attorney general’s office estimated.

“I don’t know how you got those numbers,” Trump said.

Trump added that his “brand value” alone would have increased the value of his many properties, if he had used it to value them.

“I became president because of my brand,” Trump said.

— Ella Lee

Engoron has repeatedly objected to Trump’s responses to the New York attorney general’s office’s questions, which have been winding and tinged with political speech.

“Mr. Kise, can you control your client? This is not a political rally,” Engoron said, suggesting Kise should “have a talk” with Trump.

Kise replied that Trump’s answers have been responsive because state lawyer Kevin Wallace’s questions have been “open,” purporting that it’s Engoron’s job to keep the court in order, not his.

— Ella Lee

After Trump aired his frustration over “Democrat” prosecutors and attorneys general “coming after” him, Judge Arthur Engoron asked him to keep the political answers to a minimum.

“I’d like to move things along a little faster; please no speeches,” Engoron said, drawing an objection from Trump attorney Chris Kise.

A few questions later, Trump took aim at the judge. He claimed that the allegations against him are “well beyond the statute of limitations.”

“I’m sure the judge will rule against me because he always rules against me,” Trump said.

“You can attack me whenever you want but answer the questions,” Engoron later said in response.

— Ella Lee

Trump attempted to play down the importance of his statements of financial condition when working with banks.

The documents are at the heart of the New York attorney general’s case against him and his business, which asserts that Trump and his co-defendants falsely inflated and deflated the value of the Trump Organization’s assets to receive lower taxes and better insurance coverage.

Trump said the statements of financial condition were “not really documents that the banks paid much attention to.”

“I’ve been dealing with banks for 50 years and probably know banks as well as anybody,” Trump said. “I know what they look at; they look at the deal.”

— Ella Lee

Trump ticked off his political grievances on the witness stand in New York, while detailing how he left his business when his presidency began because he “thought it might be a conflict of interest.”

He appointed his son, Donald Trump Jr., whom he called “smart” and “a very honorable guy,” a trustee.

When he left the White House after losing the 2020 election, he appointed himself a trustee of the business, expecting to be “back in the business world for a little while.”

He complained that around the same time, “Democrat” prosecutors and state attorney generals — “all Trump haters,” he said — began to “come after” him.

“Weaponization, they call it,” Trump said.

— Ella Lee

The New York attorney general’s office has called the former president to the witness stand.

“The people call Donald J. Trump,” a state lawyer said.

Trump, wearing a blue suit and tie, stood at the defense table and took his time walking to the witness stand. He raised his right hand and swore to tell the truth.

— Ella Lee

Trump has arrived in the Manhattan courtroom where he will soon take the stand in the fraud trial putting his business at risk.

Trump slowly sauntered to the defense table, maintaining a stern face before taking a seat between attorneys Alina Habba and Chris Kise.

He was flanked by two lawyers representing him in a separate New York criminal case and campaign spokesman Steven Cheung, in addition to a host of secret service agents.

The state is expected to call him as a witness shortly after 10 a.m.

— Ella Lee

Former President Donald Trump arrived at the courthouse shortly before 10 a.m., where he gave brief remarks to cameras outside the court room and decried the trial as “political warfare.”

“While Israel is being attacked, while Ukraine is being attacked, while inflation is eating our country alive, I’m down here,” Trump said, calling it a “very unfair situation.”

The former president lashed out at New York Attorney General Letitia James and others bringing the case against him, calling them “political operatives.”

“It’s a very sad situation for our country. We shouldn’t have this,” Trump said. “But in the meantime the people of the country understand it, they see it, and they don’t like it. They don’t like it. It’s political warfare as you would call it, or political lawfare.”

— Brett Samuels

Trump on Monday railed against his fraud case in New York City just hours before he is expected to appear in court and potentially take the stand.

“Got a really Biased, Nasty, Club controlled, but often overturned, Judge, a Racist, Evil, and Corrupt Attorney General, BUT A CASE THAT, ACCORDING TO ALMOST ALL LEGAL SCHOLARS, HAS ZERO MERIT,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “A dark day for our Country. WITCH HUNT!”

Read more here.

— Miranda Nazarro

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) arrived in court Monday morning some 20 minutes before Trump is expected to take the stand.

She walked directly to the state lawyers who will soon question the former president, appearing to joke and make small talk before taking her usual seat at the right front side of the courtroom.

— Ella Lee

The Manhattan courthouse where former President Trump will soon testify in the fraud case threatening his business empire was bursting with anticipation Monday morning.

More than 70 reporters from U.S. and international publications lined up outside the courthouse before the sun had risen, hoping to get a seat in the courtroom where the former president will take the stand.

At least six sketch artists will also document the historic proceeding.

— Ella Lee

Donald Trump and lawyers from New York Attorney General Letitia James’s (D) office will face off this week when the former president is expected to take the stand in the fraud case jeopardizing his business empire.

His testimony marks an unprecedented turn in U.S. history where a former president and current White House candidate must defend himself on trial and in the shadow of a host of other legal troubles. However, that seems to have had little effect among GOP primary voters throwing their support behind Trump, who is consistently polling with double-digit leads ahead of his challengers among that contingent of likely voters.

Read more a out the face-off here.

— Ella Lee