Former President Donald Trump appeared in court on Monday to testify in the fraud trial brought against him by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is accusing him of overvaluing the Trump Organization’s real estate assets and thus perpetrating a fraud on the banks involved in loaning it money.
Trump and his side contend both that the valuations the court are using are too low to accurately capture the value of the Trump Organization, including its branding, and that AG James is bringing the case not out of a concern for justice, but rather to score political points by going after Trump.
In any case, Trump appeared in court and apparently infuriated the Judge in the case, Judge Arthur Engoron, by responding with long answers and comments on the matters involved rather than the “yes” and “no” answers wanted. Here are two reported examples of that:
Trump has only responded a handful of times with “yes” or “no.” Some answers have a yes, no, and maybe all rolled up in one. When he says he can’t remember, he throws in a comment about the statute of limitations. His jabs at James and the judge are increasing by the hour.
— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) November 6, 2023
Then, after his testimony, Trump ripped into the court for the situation generally. Blasting the court for what he perceives as injustice after saying that his testimony went “very well,” Trump said, “This is a case that should have never been brought. It’s a case that should be dismissed immediately. The fraud was on behalf of the court. The court was the fraudster in this case. They made references to assets that were very valuable, and they said, uh, they had no idea. They had no idea what the numbers were when they said $18 million for Mar-A-Lago, has 50 to 100 times that amount by any estimation.”
He continued, “It’s a terrible thing that’s happened 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. But of course, they’re getting their wish because I don’t have to be here for the most part. But I certainly do have to be here because I want to be here because it’s a scam. And this is a case that should have never been brought, and it’s a case that now should be dismissed.”
Watch Trump here:
JUST IN – Trump after NY trial:
Reporter: How did it go?
Trump: I think it went very well.
Follow @insiderpaper pic.twitter.com/tiEjmkBmAu
— Mel Leigh (@Miss_Mel_Leigh) November 6, 2023
Trump ripped into the situation before his testimony as well, saying, “So while Israel is being attacked, while trade is being attacked, while inflation is eating our country alive, I’m down here that these are all political opponents. Attack ads by the Biden administration. Their poll numbers on terrorism show what happened today. The New York Times and CBS came out with a poll that I’m leading all over the place. But it’s a very unfair situation. This is really election interference. And so let me just try this (is how) ridiculous the numbers are. Much greater than on the financial side, and we’ve already proven that they said Mar-a-Lago resort, $18 million … Mar-a-Lago was anywhere from probably 50 to 100 times more than that.”
He continued, “And it’s a terrible, terrible thing. These are political operatives that I’m going to be dealing with right now. You have a racist attorney general who’s made some terrible statements and we see some more that came out the wires today. And it’s a very sad situation for our country. We shouldn’t have this. Discredit the third world countries. And it’s very unfair. It’s very unfair. But in the meantime, the people, as they understand it, they see it and they don’t like it… Political warfare, as you would call it, political warfare…. usually it takes place in third world countries and banana republics. Nobody’s ever seen that to this extent. We’ve never seen it here. But we will go along and we will obviously do very well in every regard and we’ll win the election and we will make America great again. That’s all I need to do. We’re going to make America great again. But we have to take away from the circus that.“
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