Unlike his father, Donald Trump Jr. answered what a source for CNN said were all of the questions from the New York attorney general’s office during questioning connected to her civil investigation into financial practices at the Trump family business.
Letitia James, the law enforcement official at the helm of the investigation and a subsequent civil lawsuit seeking the return of $250 million she connected to deceptive statements of value, released transcripts of portions of Trump Jr.’s answers in new court filings. According to available details, Trump Jr. — one of the highest-ranking people in the Trump Organization — sounded eager to hold others ultimately responsible for potentially deceptive financial statements. He also indicated his knowledge of accounting practices was generally limited to the contents of an introductory course in college — seemingly trying to make himself sound basically inept (which may be somewhat accurate in this specific context) as a potential defense. James released some of the contents of Trump Jr.’s questioning alongside a push for expanded oversight of the Trump company’s financial practices as her lawsuit proceeds.
“I had no real involvement in the preparation of the Statement of Financial Condition and don’t really remember ever working on it with anyone,” Trump Jr. said in response to a question about whether he assisted longtime Trump company executive Allen Weisselberg in the preparation of those financial documents. The specific question to which he was replying covered 2010 through 2017. Around the older Trump becoming president, Trump Jr. became one of three trustees — alongside Eric Trump and Weisselberg — leading the Trump company. “Again, people may have asked me about stuff tangentially that I gave them an answer to that they may have then utilized as a basis of knowledge to come up with whatever, but, no, not specifically as it relates to, you know, knowledge about the financial statement,” Trump Jr. said in reply to further questioning about his involvement during Donald’s presidential administration.
“Well, I’m not an accountant, but that they are generally accepted,” Trump Jr. answered of his knowledge about Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, a set of accounting standards. “That’s pretty much what I remember from Accounting 101, so… You know, I’m sure I could come up with some creative stuff to kill time, but I’d be doing neither of us a favor in terms of educating ourselves.” The last sentence was directly in response to a question of whether he had shared “everything” about which he was aware regarding the accounting principles at issue. In response to additional questions, Trump Jr. pointed to both accounting firm Mazars USA and individuals in the Trump Organization’s accounting and legal departments. “The semantics of the language in the letter, I can’t tell if that was always the language from the engagement letters from 2011 and on, or did it become sort of a, let’s call it, you know, cover-your-ass language later on after 30 years of doing a tax return,” he said about disclaimers from Mazars.
Trump Jr. questioned any hesitancy from Mazars considering the company’s involvement with Trump Organization financials in which specific details could be cross-checked. Trump Jr. is one of those James is specifically targeting in her lawsuit, in which she is also hoping to block members of the Trump family including the former president and his three most prominent adult children from ever again leading a business in New York.
