1 of 6 | Donald Trump Jr. sits in the courtroom to testify as the defense calls its first witnesses in the civil fraud trial of the Trump Organization on Monday in New York. Pool Photo by Michael M. Santiago/UPI | License Photo
Donald Trump Jr. will get a chance to clarify many of the statements he gave two weeks ago during the New York civil trial against the Trump Organization when he takes the stand Monday as the lead witness for the defense.
The eldest son of former President Donald Trump testified earlier during the prosecution’s case in which New York Attorney General Letitia James accuses the family of illegally inflating assets to get better loan terms. Advertisement
The prosecution rested last week after questioning more than 20 witnesses. Judge Arthur Engoron had ruled the Trumps used fraudulent documents to conduct business, in a partial summary ruling that they are appealing.
Donald Trump Jr. had testified that he relied on the external accountants who prepared the document while leading the revocable trust his father used to guard against business conflicts while serving as president.
The Trumps — the ex-president and his oldest sons Donald Jr. and Eric — along with some executives of the Trump Organization, have denied wrongdoing in the case and have deflected blame for falsified documents to those working for them. Advertisement
“I know nothing about GAAP,” Trump Jr. said, referring to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, during his earlier testimony. “I leave it to my CPAs.”
Last week, the former president’s daughter Ivanka Trump testified that she was not involved in the financial statements tied to the fraud allegations.
Donald Trump has repeatedly clashed with Engoron, who fined the former president twice for remarks outside court about the trial. The former president called the judge a “fraud” during his testimony.
Trump Jr.’s testimony is the start of a list of defense witnesses before returning to the prosecution for any rebuttal testimony.
