Former President Donald Trump motions as he returns to the courtroom.Photo:AP Photo/Seth Wenig
AP Photo/Seth Wenig
Donald Trumpstormed out of his civil fraud trial on Wednesday to courtroom gasps, moments after his former attorneyMichael Cohenbacktracked on earlier testimony about whether he had lied to Congress.
In this courtroom sketch, Judge Arthur Engoron questions former President Donald Trump on the witness stand in New York Supreme Court, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, in New York. Engoron has fined Trump $10,000, saying that Trump violated a limited gag order barring personal attacks on court staffers.Elizabeth Williams via AP
Elizabeth Williams via AP
CNNreports that Cohen appeared to offer inconsistent testimonies this week about whether Trump directed him or former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to inflate numbers on his personal financial statements.
When Cohen ultimately stated that Trump never directly instructed him to inflate the value of his assets, Trump’s lawyers asked for the judge to issue a directed verdict in Trump’s favor on the grounds that their case had just been proved. The judge denied the motion.
Once outside, Trump told reporters, “The witness just admitted that we won the trial. And the judge should end this trial immediately.”
“This judge is a very partisan judge with a person who is very partisan sitting alongside him — perhaps even much more partisan than he is," Trump said at the time — a remark the judge said was likely in reference to a clerk (which Trump disputed).
Michael Cohen.Spencer Platt/Getty
Cohen was sentenced to three years in federal prison in late 2018 after telling authorities he helped coordinate hush payments to a number of women on Trump’s behalf, including to Stormy Daniels, in an effort to keep the president’s past alleged affairs quiet ahead of the election.
The president’s longtime lawyer, who represented Trump from 2006 until 2018, also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about a Russian real estate project the president was working to complete during his 2016 campaign. Trump’s 2016 election bid has been investigated for alleged ties to Russian interference, which critics claim helped the president win the historic, shocking election.
James' office said in a press release that “from 2011-2021, Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization knowingly and intentionally created more than 200 false and misleading valuations of assets on his annual Statements of Financial Condition to defraud financial institutions.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James.Dee Delgado/Getty
The Trumps have argued that James' investigation is politically motivated, which she has repeatedly denied.
In a press conference, James said she seeks to make Trump pay $250 million in fines, ban the family from operating any New York businesses in the future, and ban the former president and the Trump Organization from buying commercial real estate in New York for five years.
Since leaving office in 2021, the former president has been mired in a number of legal issues and investigations on various fronts, including into his political conduct and business affairs.
Four of those investigations have led to indictments — the first one making him the only U.S. president to face criminal charges, and the next two further distinguishing him as the only president to face federal charges.
source: people.com
