Donald Trump is set to return to the witness stand in his civil fraud trial
NEW YORK — After a pugnacious first turn on the witness stand, former president Donald Trump plans to testify again next month in his civil fraud trial, his lawyers said Monday.
He is to return Dec. 11, defense attorney Christopher Kise said.
Trump had plenty to say during his initial testimony Nov. 6 in the case, which has questioned his net worth, accused him of misleading banks and insurers and threatened his future in business in New York.
The Republican 2024 presidential front-runner denies all the allegations, and he used his first stint on the witness stand to lambaste the case, the judge and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the lawsuit.
“People don’t know how good a company I built. You know why?” Trump complained as one of James’ deputies questioned him. “Because people like you go around and try and demean me and try and hurt me, probably for political reasons.”
He called James “a political hack” and dismissed a pretrial ruling against him as a “fraud on behalf of the court.”
The second round of Trump’s testimony could be still more expansive. James’ office led the questioning the first time; next month, that role goes to Trump’s own lawyers, and they can ask about a wider range of subjects than they could during cross-examination before.
Eric Trump, who is Trump Jr.’s brother and fellow EVP, is due to testify for the defense Dec. 6, Kise said. Both Trump sons also testified during the attorney general’s part of the case.
Now finishing its second month, the trial is putting a spotlight on the real estate empire that vaulted Trump into public life and eventually politics. He maintains that James, a Democrat, is trying to damage his campaign.
At the heart of the case are Trump’s 2014 to 2021 annual “statements of financial condition,” which were used to help secure loans and other deals.
A Trump Organization executive testified Monday that the company no longer produces such statements.
The company continues to prepare various audits and other financial reports specific to some of its components, but “there is no roll-up financial statement of the company,” said Mark Hawthorn, the chief operating officer of the Trump Organization’s hotel arm.
He wasn’t asked why the comprehensive reports had ceased but said they are “not required by any lender, currently, or any constituency.”
