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Live TV



WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT TRUMP’S DECISION TO NOT TESTIFY AGAIN IN NEW YORK CIVIL FRAUD
TRIAL

By Jeremy Herb, CNN
Updated 5:53 PM EST, Sun December 10, 2023
01:10 - Source: CNN
Trump says he won't testify at NY civil fraud trial. Legal expert has theory why

CNN  — 

Former President Donald Trump was supposed to testify again at his New York
civil fraud trial on Monday, but he made a surprise announcement Sunday that he
would not be appearing.

Trump has already testified once in the trial, repeatedly barreling past
questions from the New York attorney general’s office to instead attack the
judge overseeing his case and the attorney general’s $250 million lawsuit
against him.

The questions on Monday would have been friendlier to the former president, as
he had been scheduled to testify under questioning from his own attorneys in an
effort to bolster his defense against allegations he fraudulently inflated the
value of his properties.

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Trump’s about-face on his testimony comes as he has relentlessly attacked the
civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is
seeking $250 million in damages and to bar the former president from doing
business in the state.

Trump has also attacked the judge in the case, Arthur Engoron, and Engoron’s
principal law clerk leading to a gag order barring talk about the clerk. The
former president’s lawyers are appealing the order.

“President Trump has already testified,” Trump attorney Chris Kise said in a
statement Sunday following Trump’s announcement on his social media platform
that he would not testify. “There is really nothing more to say to a Judge who
has imposed an unconstitutional gag order and thus far appears to have ignored
President Trump’s testimony and that of everyone else involved in the complex
financial transactions at issue in the case.”

While Trump is not facing criminal charges in this case, the allegations against
his business are personal for the former president, and he’s spent several days
attending the trial outside of his testimony.

The civil trial is a preview of what could play out next year as Trump runs for
president at the same time one or more of his four criminal trials are ongoing.

Here’s what to know about Trump’s trial and his decision not to testify:


TRIAL AND CAMPAIGN TRAIL CONVERGE

Trump attended the civil trial Thursday to hear the testimony of New York
University accounting professor Eli Bartov, an expert witness for his defense.

Trump didn’t have to be there – Bartov is one of several expert witnesses his
lawyers have called during their defense – but his presence increased the
attention on the trial testimony and gave the former president the chance to
speak to television cameras just outside the courtroom at every break.

“We’ve proven this is just a witch hunt,” Trump said at one point. “It cannot be
more conclusive.”

Trump also complained that he was in New York instead of one of the early swing
states for his 2024 campaign, even though he was attending voluntarily.

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“I should be right now in Iowa, in New Hampshire, in South Carolina. I shouldn’t
be sitting in a courthouse,” Trump said.

Trump’s comments showed how he took the opportunity to attack the trial for
interfering with his presidential bid, but the reality is that the two have
effectively converged – Trump’s trials have become part of his pitch to his
base, arguing that his own legal peril is a key reason voters should return him
to the White House.


JUDGE HAS RULED TRUMP LIABLE FOR FRAUD

James alleges that Trump and his co-defendants – including his two adult sons,
the Trump Organization and several company executives – committed fraud in
inflating assets on financial statements to get better terms on commercial real
estate loans and insurance policies.

Engoron already ruled before the trial began last month that Trump and his
co-defendants were liable for “persistent and repeated” fraud. Now the judge is
considering how much the Trumps will have to pay in damages for the profits
they’ve allegedly garnered through fraudulent business practices.

An expert witness for the attorney general testified last month that the
ill-gotten gains totaled $168 million, though a defense witness disputed that
analysis.

The attorney general’s office is also looking to prove six other claims:
falsifying business records, conspiracy to falsify business records, issuing
false financial statements, conspiracy to falsify financial statements,
insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.

The trial has played out over the past two months with an appeal looming, as
Trump’s lawyers have already appealed Engoron’s initial decision. Engoron’s
ruling in the rest of the case – which is a bench trial, meaning there is no
jury – is also sure to be appealed if it goes against Trump.

While there are no criminal charges in the case, its outcome has serious
implications for the former president, as the attorney general is seeking to bar
Trump from conducting business in New York.

Engoron’s summary judgment ruling canceled Trump’s business certificates, though
that has been placed on hold while it’s appealed.

A New York appeals court last week agreed to stop the cancellation of Trump’s
business certificates until after the civil fraud trial and any appeals are
completed – a continuation of an earlier ruling by a single appeals court judge
at the start of the trial.

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TRUMP BRAND UNDER SCRUTINY

Trump’s attorneys have argued the former president’s statements of financial
condition were not fraudulent, and that Deutsche Bank, which loaned Trump money
for several properties, conducted its own analysis and didn’t rely on the
statements anyway.

The defense lawyers have called expert witnesses to testify there was not fraud
and that Deutsche Bank would not have acted differently had Trump’s net worth
been lower than what he reported at the time of the transactions.

They’ve also argued that valuations are subjective, that differences in
valuations are common and that Trump’s net worth is higher than what was listed
in his statements because it didn’t take into account the value of his brand.

Had he testified Monday, Trump would likely have amplified those arguments about
his brand and net worth, based on his prior testimony. When he wasn’t attacking
the trial, Trump was boasting about his properties and golf courses.

He claimed Mar-a-Lago was worth more than $1 billion, and that his golf course
in Aberdeen, Scotland, was “the greatest golf course ever built.”

When Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., testified, the defense lawyers walked
through a sleek PR presentation touting the Trump Organization, in what could be
a sign of how they plan to approach the former president’s testimony, too.


TENSIONS BETWEEN TRUMP AND THE JUDGE

Trump’s earlier testimony – in which he attacked the attorney general, the judge
and the entire trial with bombastic rhetoric – repeatedly exasperated Engoron,
who at one point threatened to have Trump removed as a witness.

“This is a political witch hunt and I think she should be ashamed of herself,”
Trump said of James at one point in his testimony.

“It’s a terrible thing you’ve done,” he said at another point to the judge.

Had he testified Monday, Trump could have taken the chance on the stand to level
the same attacks he’s been making in comments outside court or on his social
media – just as he did in his lengthy, all-caps statement on Truth Social Sunday
when he wouldn’t testify.

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Trump is also operating under a gag order, which Engoron put in place after the
former president attacked his law clerk, Allison Greenfield, on social media,
posting a picture of her with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat.

Engoron has fined Trump twice for violating the order, including $10,000 for
comments he made outside of court during former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s
testimony. That resulted in an extraordinary scene in which the judge called
Trump to the stand to answer questions about whether he was referring to
Greenfield or Cohen when he complained about the “person who is very partisan
sitting alongside” the judge.

Enrogon said Trump’s claims that he was referring to Cohen were “not credible”
as he levied his fine. Trump’s attorneys have appealed.

Last week, Trump attorney Alina Habba said Trump was testifying despite her
advice not to because the gag order is in place.

“He still wants to take the stand even though my advice is at this point you
should never take the stand with a gag order. But he is so firmly against what
is happening in this court,” Habba said Thursday.

This story has been updated to reflect that Trump said Sunday he would not be
testifying in his civil fraud trial on Monday as previously expected.

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