2023-11-03 02:49:00
The children of former United States President Donald Trump, Eric y Donald Trump Jr., testified this Thursday as part of an investigation that seeks to discover whether they lied to increase the value of the Trump Organization’s assets. In an unusual moment, the eldest of them asked the courtroom artist, as she came down from the stand: “It makes me look sexy.”.
Donald Trump Jr. was interrogated for hours in a case of $250 million fraud in New York, investigation led by Deputy Attorney General Colleen Faherty into the former president’s assets to determine sanctions and, upon leaving the court, he said: “I think it went very well”.
The artist who drew it, Jane Rosenberg confirmed to the press that the 45-year-oldeldest son of the former president, He asked her to draw him “sexy”. He also gave her an example that she hadn’t made, regarding Sam Bankman-Fried, a cryptocurrency entrepreneur who was drawn as a “Superstar”according to Trump Jr.
Rosenberg previously drew Donald Trump Sr. when he was indicted this year in a separate case, involving hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, and that image appeared on the magazine’s cover The New Yorker.
Donald Jr, dressed like his brother in a dark blue suit, light blue tie and slicked back hair, was the first to take the stand and declared that it did not participate in the preparation of the financial results, although he signed for the granting of a series of loans and appears as his father’s trustee. In this sense, he highlighted that he trusted his team of accountants and that he had no knowledge of those documents.
His younger brother Eric, 39, had more difficulties under intense interrogation by Andrew Amer, a lawyer for the New York attorney general’s office, who is handling the case. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen or worked on a financial statement,” he said at the beginning.
He was then forced to retractbecause Amer showed him an email from August 2013 in which a colleague told Eric Trump that he was “working on notes from Mr. Trump’s annual financial statement” and asked for information regarding the status of the golf courses.
“We are a gigantic real estate organization”said Eric Trump, raising his voice. “We certainly have financial statements.” Like his brother before him, Eric Trump said he trusted the accounting firms that provided him with information for lenders.
Likewise, Eric had to answer for several calls he made with a former company executive, Jeffrey McConney, regarding the Seven Springs land, in Westchester County, New York, a property acquired by Trump in 1995.
The two brothers took control of the Trump Organization in 2017 when his father became president of the United States. Donald Jr. told the court that the company has improved its accounting since New York Attorney General Letitia James began investigating its finances.
The company’s chief financial officer is now a certified public accountant, unlike former CFO Allen Weisselberg, he said. Weisselberg pleaded guilty to tax crimes in a separate case in 2022.
Democrat Letitia James seeks at least $250 million in damages and a permanent ban on Trump, Don Jr. and Eric from running businesses in New York state. The civil trial is expected to last until December.
For her part, the daughter of the former president, Ivanka Trumpwho left the Trump Organization in 2017 to become an advisor to her father in the White House, is not charged, but has also been ordered to testify, although she has appealed the subpoena.
“Political persecution” and “miscarriage of justice”: the testimonies of the Trump family
In statements to reporters following his testimony, Donald Trump Jr. denounced the case brought by Letitia James, as a “political persecution”. “The banks in question made hundreds of millions of dollars,” she said, adding, “Don’t pretend to be victims.” “Apparently, I am guilty of fraud for trusting my accountant to do—pay attention—the accounting.”he ironized.
However, Judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the case, has already ruled that Trump, his children and other top Trump Organization executives committed fraud. The trial is being held to determine possible sanctions. Trump and his children will not go to jail in this case, but they face fines of up to $250 million, loss of control of part of their real estate properties and the possibility of being removed from the management of the family business.
The former Republican president and billionaire He is not required to attend the trial, but he has attended on several occasionsin which he takes the opportunity, before the numerous media present at the entrance of the room, to present himself as the victim of what he claims is a “Democratic plot” to derail his campaign for the White House.
Last week, Trump sat scowling at the defendant’s table as Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer, testified. Cohen told the court that Trump ordered him to manipulate the values of his company’s assets to obtain more favorable bank loans and insurance conditions.
When the trial resumed on Thursday, he wrote on social media: “This is a huge miscarriage of justice”. Judge Engoron already fined Trump $15,000 for repeatedly violating a gag order prohibiting him from publicly criticizing court staff.
The trial is one of a series of cases Trump must face as he campaigns to retake the White House. He faces a total of 91 charges of serious crimes in four different criminal proceedingsincluding two cases arising from attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
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