Trump complains of unfair treatment at court
Donald Trump complained of unfair treatment in defiant and rambling testimony on the witness stand at his New York civil business-fraud trial on Monday, prompting the judge to threaten to cut his testimony short. Under questioning about his company's accounting practices, the former US president repeatedly clashed with Judge Arthur Engoron, who is weighing whether to impose hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and other penalties that could hobble the real estate empire that vaulted Trump to prominence. Engoron warned Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2024 election, that he might remove him from the witness stand if he did not answer questions directly. "Mr Kise, can you control your client?" Engoron asked Trump's lawyer, Christopher Kise. "This is not a political rally. This is a courtroom." Trump often avoided direct answers, instead bragging about his properties and his wealth and questioning the motivations of New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, who brought the case. "This is a political witch hunt and I think she should be ashamed of herself," he said. Amid the fireworks, Trump acknowledged that his company did not provide accurate estimates of the value of apartment towers, golf courses and other assets. New York state lawyers said those values were pumped up to win better financing terms, and Engoron has already ruled that they were fraudulent. But Trump said many of them, such as his Mar-a-Lago estate and Doral golf course in Florida were undervalued. He acknowledged that his Trump Tower residence in New York and his Seven Springs estate north of the city were overvalued. He said that should not matter because the estimates included language saying they might not be accurate and banks did not take them seriously. "You’ve made it important, but it wasn’t," Trump said of the estimates. New York state lawyers said in their lawsuit that the estimates misled lenders and insurers, earning him US$100 million and exaggerating his wealth by US$2 billion. Trump accused legal authorities of paying unduly close attention to his business after he won the 2016 presidential election. "I’m sure the judge will rule against me because he always rules against me," he said. "This is a very unfair trial, very, very unfair and I hope the public is watching," he added later. James brushed aside Trump's attacks ahead of his testimony. "At the end of the day, the only thing that matters are the facts and the numbers. The numbers, my friends, don't lie," James said outside the courthouse. At one point when Trump was on the stand, Engoron asked Kise to take Trump to the back of the courtroom and "explain the rules." "The former and again soon to be president of the United States understands the rules," Kise responded. Unlike the four criminal cases Trump faces, this civil trial does not threaten to put him in prison as he mounts a comeback White House bid. James is seeking US$250 million in fines, as well as restrictions that would prevent Trump and his sons Eric and Donald Jr. from doing business in their home state. (Reuters)