Donald Trump pulls out paper during testimony at NYC civil fraud trial, says it’ll clear his name
Donald Trump pulled a piece of paper out of his suit jacket during testimony in Manhattan court Monday — claiming it would completely clear his name in the $250 million civil fraud case against him and asking to show it to the judge.
The former president, 77, was apparently requesting to show both the judge and a prosecutor a disclaimer clause from a financial statement on which New York Attorney General Letitia James has accused him of lying in her lawsuit.
As he testified at trial in the suit, Trump held the document up and asked if the judge would “like to have it.”
Later, the real estate tycoon said: “I would love to read this, Your Honor, if I could? Am I allowed to do that?”
“No, not at this point,” replied Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron — who is deciding the non-jury case that threatens Trump’s New York real estate empire.
“I’m shocked,” Trump responded.
One of Trump’s main defenses during his testimony revolved around the annual statements of financial condition on which James claims he lied from 2011 through 2021, inflating his assets by billions a year for better loan and insurance terms.
Trump claimed that a disclaimer clause meant that he wasn’t liable for any inaccuracies the documents might contain — though Engoron, in a bombshell ruling before the trial began last month, shot down that particular defense argument.
“I think that the statements of financial conditions were very good, were actually somewhat conservative … and they were totally protected, and so am I, by the disclaimer clause,” Trump insisted from the witness stand Monday afternoon.
The yearly statements contained a section saying that Trump promised to provide a “fair representation” of the financial filings in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.
Engoron wrote in his Sept. 26 decision that the disclaimers “do not insulate defendants from liability” — and added that they actually even “put the onus for accuracy squarely on defendants’ shoulders.”
On Monday, referring to the disclaimer clause, the judge told Trump to “read my opinion again — or for the first time, perhaps.”
The debate over the clause prompted Trump to explode on the stand and lash out at the judge and the AG.
“He called me a fraud and he didn’t know anything about me!” yelled Trump, while pointing at the judge.
“The fraud is on the court and not on me … the fraud is on her!”
He then called James, who sat calmly in the front row, a “political hack.”
Trump used myriad other arguments to combat the AG’s claims against him, including trying to downplay the importance of the yearly statements.
He claimed that banks didn’t actually rely on financial statements when considering whether to lend him money — instead placing more importance on the terms of the deal or the location of the property for which he was securing financing.
“They were not really documents that the banks paid much attention to,” he testified.
“I’ve been dealing with banks for 50 years. I probably know banks as well as anybody,” he added. “They look at the deal, they look at the location. They don’t want to get involved in financial statements.”
And the statements actually undervalued his net worth, Trump testified, claiming that his soaring Financial District property at 40 Wall St. was worth far more than the $550 million at which it was valued in a 2014 statement.
“That building, you just look at it, and you say it’s worth a lot more than $550 million,” Trump said, suggesting the prosecutor “put up a picture” of the building.
He also claimed that he repaid all the bank loans he took out, so no one was actually “harmed” and there was no “victim.”
“They were paid off in full. There was no victim,” Trump said, before adding, “Everyone is trying to figure out, why you are [the prosecutor] doing this for a bank that’s very rich, very big, and had the best lawyers in the world? Nobody understands it. Well, I understand it. It’s called politics.”
Still, the law under which the real estate tycoon was sued doesn’t require actual harm to be proven if he’s found liable for fraud.
Trump has also claimed as a defense that the whole case against him is politically driven and his lawyers have threatened to make a motion for mistrial over alleged bias by the judge.
The 2024 GOP presidential front-runner testified for roughly three and a half hours during dramatic questioning Monday, leaving only Ivanka Trump to be called by the AG’s office Wednesday before the prosecution rests its case.
Trump’s side will begin calling witnesses after Ivanka’s testimony, including recalling Trump’s two eldest sons, Don Jr. and Eric, Trump’s lawyer confirmed Monday.
The case — which was originally slated to run until the Christmas break — is now expected to end around Dec. 15, Trump’s lawyers told the judge Monday.
Outside of court after the trial ended for the day, Trump said the case needed to be dismissed immediately and blasted the judge and the AG for carrying out what he called a “fraud” against him.
