Judge to Trump: This is 'a courtroom, not a political rally'

Donald Trump, the former president of the United States, appeared in a New York courthouse today, where he took the witness stand in a massive fraud case against him, his sons and their family business.

The case, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, accuses the Trumps of having manipulated the value of their real estate properties by millions of dollars to suit their needs — inflating values when it came to securing loans, and deflating them when it came to paying taxes.

Trump, who is currently devastating his competitors in the race to become the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, spoke to reporters upon arrival Monday, decrying the New York fraud case as "election interference."

Judge chides Trump over rambling and evasive answers

Inside the courtroom, Trump faced questioning from Judge Arthur Engoron about business practices for which Engoron has already found him guilty.

Engoron upbraided Trump several times throughout his appearance, telling him: "We don't have time to waste. We have one day to do this," and calling his answers, "non-responsive" and "repetitive."

Trump, who attacked the judge before his testimony — saying, "It's all political warfare as you would call it, or political lawfare" — continued to do so on the witness stand, staring at Engoron and saying "he always rules against me."

The judge replied, "You can attack me whichever way you want but please answer the question."

At one point, Engeron — who has twice fined the politician for making defamatory remarks about court staff — appealed to Trump's lawyers, asking: "can you control your client? This is not a political rally, this is a courtroom."

Fraud ruling could keep Trumps from doing business in New York

The fraud trial threatens to be costly for Trump — a $250 million (€233 million) fine looms — and could bar him from doing business in New York, but unlike the four criminal cases he currently faces, there is no threat of a prison sentence.

Though Trump has not been required to appear in court until now, he has done so consistently since the trial began in early October.

He has used the media attention on him and his legal troubles as an avenue to vent grievances and malign the US legal system. All the while, the presidential candidate is raking in cash by using his legal woes as a vehicle for soliciting campaign donations under the motto of fighting for his supporters' right to free speech.

Trump has used his default "greatest witch hunt of all time" defense in the court of public opinion and called New York Attorney General James, a Black woman, "out of control."

James appeared unimpressed by Trump's distracting antics Monday, saying: "At the end of the day, the only thing that matters are the facts and the numbers. And the numbers, my friends, don't lie."

Accountants to blame

Though Trump has claimed no one was injured as a result of his business practices, New York attorneys claim his falsified records likely earned him as much as $100 million dollars and inflated his personal wealth by $2 billion.

Michael Cohen, a former lawyer and so-called "fixer" for Trump, testified in late October that Trump would usually provide the number he wanted to use in a given situation and that it was up to everyone else to "reverse engineer" accounts to ensure they came out to that number.

Cohen himself served time for violating campaign finance laws by making secret payments to hide news of an extramarital affair that threatened Trump's 2016 presidential candidacy.

Trump's sons each denied responsibility for any wrongdoing when testifying on the decades long accounting scheme last week, saying the company's accountants were to blame.

On Monday, Donald Trump himself said: "All I did was authorize and tell people to give whatever is necessary for the accountants to do the statements. I would look at them, I would see them, and maybe on some occasions, I would have some suggestions."

Trump also insisted he bears no responsibility to banks because his financial statements all carried a disclaimer that said they were worthless and should not be trusted.

js/jcg (AFP, Reuters)