Trump Jr. set to testify as Trump’s legal team kicks off defense case in NYC fraud trial
Donald Trump Jr. is slated to take the witness stand on Monday as the defense team launches their case in the fraud trial against former President Donald Trump.
Trump’s eldest son will be called to testify in Manhattan Supreme Court after the Trump legal team last week made a long-shot bid at shutting the whole trial down with a claim that New York Attorney General Tish James hasn’t provided enough evidence.
Trump, his adult sons and the Trump Organization are accused of having swindled banks, insurers and others by illegally inflating their worth and the value of their assets to pump up their profits on business deals and get better loans.
Judge Arthur Engoron already ruled before the trial began that Trump, his company and other defendants are liable for fraud. The trial will determine how much they’ll have to pay up — James is looking to recover $250 million and bar him, his sons and the Trump Organization from operating in the state.
The judge’s pretrial ruling left open the possibility that Trump could be forced to relinquish marquee properties such as Trump Tower, though an appeals court is allowing him to remain in control of his holdings for now.
The defense team is likely to fall back on a strategy they’ve used throughout the trial already — pin the blame for any mistakes or inaccuracies in the financial statements on the Trump Organization’s former outside accounting firm, Mazars, and their former outside account, Donald Bender.
Last week, in a win for the Trump team, the AG was denied a motion to block four of the defense team’s expert witnesses from testifying.
Engoron turned down their request but specified that the witnesses will only be able speak on relevant subjects, stating that one of his goals with the case is to avoid a mistrial.
This isn’t the first time Don Jr. will have appeared in the third-floor courtroom — he was called to the stand two weeks ago by the prosecution, who grilled him on his role in different business deals and loan transitions.
When he takes the stand on Monday, he’ll be questioned by his own legal team in the case, who waived their chance at a cross-examination when he first took the stand.
Don Jr. is an executive vice president of the Trump Organization and was appointed a trustee of Trump’s assets when he won the White House. Don Jr. has consistently tried to distance himself from his father’s financial statements — the strategy of all three of Trump’s children who’ve testified at the trial.
It’s not yet known whether the other Trump children, Ivanka and Eric, or Trump himself, will be called by the defense team to testify.
The AG’s office wrapped up its case last week with a blockbuster series of testimony from Trump and his children, calling their last witness, Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of the ex-president and real estate magnate, on Wednesday.
The defense team said their case will last about five weeks, concluding the week of Dec. 15.