What you should know
Thursday marks the second day of testimony from Donald Trump’s adult children in the $250 million civil fraud trial against the former president’s family and his company. Donald Trump Jr. took the stand again to answer more questions from the office of Attorney General Letitia James. He was followed by his brother, Eric Trump, who also served as the company’s executive vice president. On Wednesday, Trump Jr. faced questions about his role in the Trump Organization, especially as it related to financial statements that, according to the James, were deliberately inflated to benefit the company.
NEW YORK – Eric Trump, one of two sons entrusted with running Donald Trump’s real estate empire, swore Thursday that he was never involved in or aware of financial statements that state attorneys say fraudulently inflated the former president’s wealth. and the value of the family business.
But when a New York state lawyer found decade-old emails in which a fellow Trump Organization executive asked him for the information needed to complete one of his father’s financial statements, the irritated son scrambled to clear it up.
“We are a large organization, a huge real estate organization; yes, I’m pretty sure I understand that we have financial statements. Absolutely,” Eric Trump testified. But he insisted: “I had no involvement and never worked on my father’s financial statement.”
Eric Trump followed his brother Donald Trump Jr. to the witness stand Thursday at the family’s civil fraud trial in New York, a prelude to their father’s scheduled testimony on Monday. Both sons are executive vice presidents of the Trump Organization.
Answering questions for a second day, Trump Jr. also revealed that gaming giant Bally’s recently paid his company $60 million to buy the right to operate a public golf course in New York City. Terms of the transfer of the lease at the former Trump Golf Links Ferry Point in the Bronx had not previously been disclosed.
The sale came after the city worked to end Donald Trump’s association with the field after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. The company managed the 18-hole course, now called Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point, until this year.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing Donald Trump, his company and top executives, including Eric and Donald Jr., accusing them of inflating the former president’s net worth in annual financial statements that were provided to banks, insurers and others to guarantee loans and make deals.
The former president and other defendants deny wrongdoing.
Donald Trump, the favorite for the 2024 Republican nomination, reiterated on Thursday on his Truth Social platform that he considers the trial to be “RIGGED,” a “miscarriage of justice” and “electoral interference.” James and the judge who will decide the case, Arthur Engoron, are Democrats.
“The Trump Organization is financially strong, powerful, very liquid and has done nothing wrong,” Trump wrote.
Eric Trump, beginning his testimony, said he “never had anything to do with the financial disclosure statement,” did not believe he had seen one, and “didn’t know anything about it, really, until this case.”
“It’s not what I did for the company,” said the son, who has insisted that his interests lie primarily in “pouring concrete” — building and operating properties. He said that while he knew the company had financial documents, he “was not personally aware of the statement of financial position.”
State Attorney Andrew Amer then showed him emails from 2013 from then-Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, who explained to Eric Trump that he was “working on his father’s financial disclosure statement” and needed information about one of the company properties.
“So you knew about your father’s annual financial statement in August 2013?” Amer asked.
“It appears to be that way,” testified Eric Trump, who at the time was a lower-level executive.
In another email that year, McConney said he was “working on notes from Mr. Trump’s annual financial statement” and asked Eric and others for an update on any major construction work that had recently begun.
“Yes, I know Jeff McConney does financial statements for my father,” Eric Trump said, leaning back in his chair and adjusting his suit jacket. When asked a question along the same lines, he responded that the company is a “massive real estate organization,” and raised his voice as he spoke.
Donald Trump Jr. testified earlier Thursday that, despite James’ allegations, he still believed his father’s financial statements were “materially accurate.” His father has said that, if anything, the figures in the documents reduced his wealth and the value of his skyscrapers, golf courses and other properties.
Echoing his testimony Wednesday, Trump Jr. insisted that he dealt with the financial statements only in passing: approving them as trustee of his father’s trust and providing them to lenders to satisfy loan requirements. He reiterated that he did so relying on assurances from the company’s financial executives and an outside accounting firm that the information was accurate.
“If they had assured me in their expert opinion that these things were right, I would have accepted it and signed accordingly,” he testified.
Outside the courthouse, Trump Jr. told reporters that he thought his testimony went “very well, if we were really dealing with logic and reason, the way business is conducted.”
“Unfortunately, the attorney general has brought a case that is purely political persecution,” he said. “I think it’s a really scary precedent for New York: For me, for example, before I even have my day in court, I’m apparently guilty of fraud for trusting my accountants to do, wait for it: bookkeeping.”
Yolanda Vásquez has the details.
WHAT OTHER TESTIMONIALS ARE EXPECTED
Eric Trump is expected to take the stand next Thursday. Then, on Monday, the former president, family patriarch and 2024 Republican favorite, is also scheduled to testify. State attorneys had hoped to call his eldest daughter, former Trump Organization executive and White House adviser Ivanka Trump, as her final witness on Nov. 8. On Wednesday, her attorney filed an appeal challenging a judge’s decision to compel her testimony.
James’ office is expected to ask Ivanka Trump about her Park Avenue apartment, as well as several loans she helped negotiate for the company.
In a statement from Eric Trump, he said his father had been the company’s director for a long time and acknowledged that although he no longer runs the day-to-day operations, if there was something his father wanted done, Eric and Donald Trump Jr. , most likely it will.
“Well, at the end of the day, my father owns the company. So I think any company owner is always at the top of the pyramid,” Eric Trump testified about his father’s role before becoming president. When asked if his father was now back on top of the pyramid, he said: “You know, in a way, maybe.”
WHAT THE LAWSUIT AGAINST TRUMP SAYS
James, a Democrat, alleges that Donald Trump, his company and top executives, including his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., conspired to exaggerate his wealth by billions of dollars in his financial statements that were turned over to banks, insurers and others to secure loans and make deals.
In addition to seeking $250 million in damages, the lawsuit seeks to prevent Trump and his children from serving as officers or directors of any New York corporation.
Trump Jr. and Weisselberg were responsible for signing the company’s financial statements, presenting them as accurate and compiled in accordance with accepted accounting practices. James’ office alleges that none of those statements are true.
The filing also noted that one of the apartments in the building was valued at $25 million, even though Ivanka Trump, who had been renting it, had the option to buy it for $8.5 million.
For more information, visit NBCNews.com
2023-11-02 18:20:41
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