Eric Trump on Friday criticized the $250 million civil fraud case against his family after concluding his testimony at the Manhattan trial, where he appeared in nearly identical clothing for two days in a row.
Trump, 39, testified for about four and a half hours spread over Thursday and Friday, when he appeared before Manhattan Supreme Court in what appeared to be the same navy suit, light blue tie, white dress shirt, shoes Brown oxfords and even the same suit. light blue printed socks.
Later, outside the courtroom, Trump lashed out at New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is prosecuting the case, and the judge who decided it, echoing claims by his father, former President Donald Trump, that that the trial is a political witch hunt.
“This is a huge travesty that is a huge waste of taxpayer money and is the real reason why everyone is moving out of New York State, and I was one of them,” Trump told a group of journalists.
“It’s a joke, it’s an absolute joke,” he said, claiming James was using the case to boost his career.
The former first son remained steadfast in his innocence and was confident that his family would prevail at trial.
Eric Trump criticized the fraud case against his family after finishing testifying on Friday. Getty Images
“Guys, we’re going to win this,” Trump said. “I promise you that we are going to win because we have not done anything wrong.”
He told reporters that his father was “certainly” going to appear in court on Monday to testify.
“He’s very excited to be here,” said the former president’s middle son. “He thinks this is one of the most incredible injustices he’s ever seen, and he totally is.”
In a series of posts on Truth Social on Thursday, Donald Trump, 77, criticized the judge, the attorney general and the case, claiming that his sons and co-defendants Eric and Don Jr. were being “persecuted.”
Eric Trump claimed the case against him, his father and older brother Don Jr. was a “farce” and a “joke.”
Eric Trump’s testimony followed Don Jr.’s roughly three hours on the stand Wednesday and Thursday and is expected to be followed by the former commander in chief’s testimony on Monday and his sister Ivanka on Wednesday.
Trump’s two oldest children, his father and the family real estate business are all defendants in the attorney general’s lawsuit that accuses Donald of lying on annual financial statements for a decade, inflating his assets to the tune of thousands. millions a year to obtain better loan and insurance conditions.
Both Don Jr., 45, and Eric said under oath that they did not participate in their father’s annual financial statements. Although Don Jr. resorted to jokes and deflections during questioning by the attorney general’s office, Eric took a much more serious and, at times, aggressive tone with the prosecutor.
Eric Trump testified for approximately four and a half hours on Thursday and Friday during a tense questioning by the attorney general’s office.REUTERS
“I never had anything to do with the financial disclosure,” Eric, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, said Thursday. “People ask me questions all the time, but I’ve never worked on the balance sheet.”
Similarly, Don Jr. said Wednesday: “I was not involved in the compilation of this statement of financial condition.”
The two older Trump brothers said they relied on accountants and lawyers to make sure everything they signed was accurate, and Eric said he didn’t even know what the statements were until the attorney general filed the case.
But the attorney general’s lawyer, Andrew Amer, spent a lot of time confronting Eric with emails and other evidence suggesting he knew about the financial statements as early as 2013 and helped formulate valuations of certain Trump Org properties.
Eric Trump appeared in court both days in almost identical clothing, wearing a navy suit, white dress shirt, light blue tie, brown Oxford shoes and light blue socks that appeared to be identical both days.Getty Images
On Thursday night, an appeals court judge denied Ivanka Trump’s attempt not to testify next Wednesday.
Earlier this year, Ivanka was dismissed from the case by an appeals court that determined that any involvement she had in the alleged fraud was beyond the statute of limitations. But New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron said her testimony was still relevant and ruled that she must testify in person.
Both before and after Eric’s testimony on Friday, Trump attorney Christopher Kise claimed the judge was biased against his client and said he was concerned that there were supposedly two people deciding the case: the judge and his clerk.
Kise said he was considering seeking a mistrial over the alleged bias, saying he was concerned that Engoron was receiving notes throughout the trial from his law clerk. He also claimed that a story emerged about “partisan political contributions made by certain members of his staff.”
The former first son’s testimony came after testimony from his older brother, Don Jr., and comes ahead of his father and sister’s expected testimony next week.REUTERS
When Engoron asked where the report came from, Kise said, “I think it’s on Breitbart,” prompting groans from the courtroom.
But Engoron eventually told Kise (who had also raised the issue of bias Thursday afternoon) to stop discussing the issue in court and file a motion.
“I am saying, for the record, that I will continue to receive notes from my staff,” Engoron responded. “If you want to make a motion right now, go ahead and make it.”
Kevin Wallace, an attorney with the Attorney General’s Office, went ahead and agreed that Kise should simply file a motion on the issue rather than continue raising it at trial.
“This sideshow of talking about the secretary is designed to disrupt our ability to present evidence,” Wallace said. “If there is anything inappropriate about a judge and a clerk passing notes, he should make his motion now.”
On Thursday afternoon, Engoron became angry when Kise brought up the topic, slamming his hands on the bench and shouting, “Confidential communications from my secretary? You have no right to see it or question it.”
Engoron warned that he would expand a limited gag order barring Trump from speaking publicly about his judicial staff to include Trump’s lawyers if they spoke about the paralegal again.
Early in the trial, Trump posted a photo on Truth Social of the secretary with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), baselessly saying she was “Schumer’s girlfriend” and adding that she was “ directing this case against me.”
Engoron subsequently issued a limited gag order prohibiting Trump from speaking publicly about any member of his judicial staff.
The judge has since found that Trump has violated the order twice and fined him a total of $15,000.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn