Donald Trump Jr. appeared on the witness stand on both Wednesday and Thursday as trial moved forward in the fraud case from New York state Attorney General Letitia James accusing the Trumps of financial deception, and he went with denials, which some might’ve been expecting.
On Thursday, media dispatches recapping the courtroom’s events said Donald Jr. claimed he was not meaningfully connected to statements of financial condition that James and her team have contended throughout this case relayed deception. And the alleged deception, James contends, provided the foundation for hundreds of millions of dollars brought in by the Trump Organization in addition to some $168 million in potential profits from interest lost by financial institutions that did business with the Trumps. (That latter estimate came from an expert witness for the state.)
The idea is that these institutions imposed interest rates lower than the levels that would have more appropriately matched the Trumps’ actual financial state.
“Engoron asked Trump Jr. whether he had “anything to do” with the statements of financial condition, and he testified that he did not,” NBC reported. Accounting professional Donald Bender, who’s worked with the Trumps, previously pointed to the Trump family as sources for information providing the foundation for the statements that James says were deceptive.
And in previous testimony, Donald Jr. also claimed to not have a foundational understanding of various concepts in financial accounting, pointing back to Bender instead as allegedly having been a go-to source for various questions. Trump Jr. is named in the underlying case from James and therefore under the threat of serious financial penalties, a possibility that depends upon how the case is eventually decided. Eric Trump, another adult son of Donald’s who’s also named in the case, was also set to testify Thursday after previous testimony had similarly pointed to him as an ostensible source in discussions of value.
