Eric Trump shown proof he knew of company’s financial statements after testifying he ‘didn’t know anything’

Trump lawyer in heated exchange with judge over judge’s law clerk

Toward the end of the day, Judge Engoron got into an angry exchange with Trump lawyer Chris Kise, after Kise referred to the judge’s law clerk.

The judge told Kise that “there is a sense of misogyny in you referring to my female principal law clerk” and said “do not refer to my staff again. She is a civil servant.”

The same clerk drew the ire of Donald Trump near the beginning of the trial. The judge slapped the former president with a gag order after he complained she was biased and posted a picture of her on his social media platform. Trump was later fined $15,000 for violations of the gag order.

Engoron warned Kise this afternoon that if these statements continue, he “will consider expanding the gag order.” Kise countered, “I’m not a misogynist,” but he said he felt like he was “fighting two adversaries” because the clerk keeps giving the judge information. “She may have a different view of the case than you, based on her political background,” Kise said.

The judge shot back: “I have an absolute unfettered right to get advice from my principal law clerk!”

At one point, after Kise complained about the clerk passing notes, the judge got so mad he pounded the table.

An uncomfortable-looking Eric Trump was on the stand during the exchange, which occurred right before court broke for the day.

‘I pour concrete’ and ‘don’t focus on appraisals,’ Eric Trump says

Pushing back against questions about his involvement in his father’s financial statements, Eric Trump said — repeatedly — “I pour concrete. I operate properties. I don’t focus on appraisals.”

Trump used the line in person in court, and was also shown using it in his videotaped deposition from earlier this year, when he was quizzed about what he knew about appraisals that were used for his father’s statements of financial condition.

There were also variations — at one point in his videotaped deposition, he said: “I was responsible for building buildings and pouring concrete” and not financial statements.

Later in the afternoon, on the witness stand, he said, “I don’t focus on appraisals. I am an operator. I am a construction guy.” 

AG making headway with Eric Trump strategy

Andrew Amer, of the attorney general’s team, spent hours today reviewing communications from 2012 and 2013, periods that are both outside the statute of limitations. There appear to be two reasons why.

First, he wanted to establish that before the statute of limitations began to run, Eric Trump well understood that his dad had statements of financial condition; that those statements were occasionally shared with third parties in connection with financings and acquisitions; and, perhaps most importantly, that Trump Org. VP Jeff McConney sought and obtained information from him personally for use in valuing assets in those statements.

Second, and just as significantly, Eric’s representations to the contrary at his deposition highlight how deep his credibility issues go. Without calling him a liar or asking expressly if he wanted to correct his testimony, Amer got Eric to concede today, in essence, that his unambiguous, confident declarations of zero knowledge of or involvement in the statements were, at best, based on a very faulty memory and at worst, constituted deliberate falsehoods.

Both were important objectives for the AG, and Amer was a study in how not to lose one’s cool as a lawyer when confronted with a testy, evasive witness.

Ivanka Trump appealing order she testify, seeks stay of trial

Ivanka Trump has filed a notice that she’s appealing the judge’s order that she testify in the $250 million fraud case, and wants the trial stayed until the appeal is decided.

The former president’s daughter, who an appeals court let out of the case as a defendant on statute of limitations grounds, said in a court filing yesterday that she’s appealing “each and every part” of Judge Engoron’s ruling that she testify as a witness in the case.

Her filing contends that the attorney general doesn’t have jurisdiction over her because she no longer lives in New York, among other arguments, and wants her appearance — and the trial — stayed until there’s a ruling. “Ms. Trump, who resides in Florida with her three minor children, will suffer undue hardship if a stay is denied and she is required to testify at trial in New York in the middle of a school week,” the filing said.

The AG’s office responded soon after the notice was filed, urging the state Appellate Division not to issue a stay that could delay her testimony next week — or the trial.

“Though Ms. Trump alludes solely in the concluding sentence of her motion to ‘a stay of the trial’, she makes no arguments to support such drastic relief, which would upend an ongoing trial,” the filing said. The AG’s lawyers contend her underlying arguments are “utterly meritless,” and noted that she still has an apartment in New York and “still transacts business” in the state.

The court has returned from the break

Court is back in session following a lunch break, with Eric Trump returning to the stand at approximately 2:15 pm.

Lunch break begins

The court has taken a lunch break just before 1 p.m. ET.

Eric Trump acknowledges knowing about financial statements

A short time after he testified he had “never worked” on the Trump Organization’s statement of financial condition and “didn’t know anything about it” until recently, Eric acknowledged he was aware of them as far back as 2013.

After Andrew Amer from the AG’s office showed him Trump Organization emails asking him for information on a Trump property, called Seven Springs, for the SOFC, Eric was asked again if he was aware of the annual statements at the time.

He replied the company “is a massive real estate organization” and “I am fairly certain we would have had financial statements. Absolutely.”

Pressed on if he understood at the time that he was being asked for information for the annual SOFC for his father, Eric said: “Yes.”

Eric Trump gets testy

Eric got testy and raised his voice a bit as the AG’s office pressed him about his father’s financial statements.

Asked about a reference that he had made in a decade-old email that distribution of a summary of their personal finances should be limited, he said, “You wouldn’t want 1,200 people to see your personal finances.”

Asked if the document he was trying to limit was a statement of financial condition — a financial statement he testified he didn’t know anything about — Eric seemed agitated and said: “I was not personally aware of statement of financial condition and I did not work on a statement of financial condition.”

He was then shown an email sent to him by a Trump employee from 2013 telling him the employee needed information from Eric Trump to help put together his father’s statement of financial condition.

Asked by the AG again if he knew about the statement, Eric said, “It appears that way.”

Eric Trump says he ‘didn’t know anything about’ financial statements

Eric testified that he had “never worked” on the Trump Organization’s statement of financial condition and “didn’t know anything about it until this case came to fruition.”

“I was 26 at the time,” he said — following a similar tactic used by his eldest brother, Trump Jr., who took the stand earlier in the day and tried to shift responsibility to the company’s accountants when asked about the financial statements that the state attorney general’s office alleged were grossly inflated.

“I don’t think I ever saw or worked on a statement of financial condition,” Eric said. “I don’t believe I would have known about it — not what I did.”

Eric Trump takes the witness stand

Eric has entered the courtroom and taken the witness stand.

The judge had let the press inside the room take photos before starting Eric’s direct examination.

“Does everyone have their makeup on?” Engoron quipped, prompting laughter from Eric, who is wearing a navy suit, and others sitting at the defense table.

“You think they got enough photos,” Engoron added, as the press left the room.

Trump Jr. is excused after defense declines to cross-examine

Trump Jr. was excused from the stand shortly after 11:30 a.m. ET, and the defense team declined to cross-examine him.

Trump Jr. says he did not ‘have anything to do’ with statements of financial condition

When asked if he had “anything to do” with the statements of financial condition, Trump Jr. testified that he did not.

Bender — who worked for the accounting firm, Mazars USA, that compiled the Trump Organization’s “Statements of Financial Condition” — testified earlier in the trial and blamed inflated numbers in the financial statements he compiled on the information he got from the Trumps.

Lawyers for the defense implied during Bender’s cross-examination that he was at fault because he was the accountant, and such work was outside the family’s area of expertise.

Trump Jr. testifies he doesn’t recall specifics of documents, relied on accounting team

After an afternoon on the stand yesterday, Trump Jr. is back. He said in direct examination this morning that he doesn’t recall the specifics of several documents he was presented with in court, but that the Trump Organization’s accountants and accounting firm, Mazars USA, would be more familiar with the details. 

He said that he relied on the accounting team, which included Allen Weisselberg, who was the company’s CFO, and would ask all relevant parties if the information in the documents were correct and then he would sign off on them.

Asked about a loan document from Deutsche Bank in 2017 on which he signed as “attorney in fact,” Trump Jr. said he didn’t remember signing it, but added: “I’m sure I’ve signed dozens of these in my time as trustee.”

Trump Jr. and Eric Trump arrive at court

Trump’s two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, have arrived in court in Manhattan.

What to expect at trial today

Trump Jr. is set to take the stand again today and continue his testimony. His younger brother Eric is also expected to testify today.

The attorney general’s lawsuit describes Eric as being responsible “for all aspects of management and operation of the Trump Organization including new project acquisition, development and construction.”

Highlights from Trump Jr.’s testimony so far

The attorney general’s financial expert, Michiel McCarty, delivered testimony on the effect of the Trump Organization’s valuations that the AG’s office said were falsely inflated. During a cross-examination, Trump’s counsel attempted to undermine McCarty’s calculations.

That was followed by former Trump Organization Senior Vice President David Orowitz discussing the deal that led to the company’s management of a hotel near the White House.

Later in the day, Donald Trump Jr. took the stand and was asked by the AG’s office about real estate-related financial terms. At one point, he told Judge Arthur Engoron that he had “no understanding” of certain accounting standards.

Trump Jr. said the company had “relied heavily” on his father’s longtime accountant, Donald Bender, for its accounting needs.