Donald Trump Jr.’s previous testimony in the civil fraud trial involving his father may hinder him as the former president’s eldest son takes to the stand for the defense in New York, according to a legal expert.
Trump Jr. has already answered questions under oath as a part of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million lawsuit accusing him, his brother Eric and father Donald, as well as executives at The Trump Organization, of filing fraudulent statements which inflated the value of properties and assets for years to obtain favorable bank loans and tax breaks. The Trumps deny all wrongdoing in connection to the civil trial.
On Monday, Trump Jr. is due to testify again as part of the defense as the former president’s legal team put forward their case. During his testimony on November 1, Trump Jr. said he had no direct involvement in working on the financial statements that Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled were fraudulently filed due to the inaccurate and misleading valuations.
Trump Jr. added that while he did sign off on financial statements which are cited in James’ lawsuit, the valuations were decided by The Trump Organization’s accountants who had “more intimate understanding of the specifics of those things,” than he did.
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Speaking to MSNBC, Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, suggested the defense will now want to “provide the narrative” with their questions for Trump Jr., but the former president’s eldest son may risk losing credibility if his latest testimony differs too much from what he has already said under oath when answering questions.
“It’s going to be very difficult for Donald Trump Jr. to really have a lot of credibility here,” McQuade said. “His whole strategy, when he testified previously, was to distance himself from knowledge about these things. That it was all about the accountants, I don’t really pay much attention to this, sure, maybe I signed off on these things.
“But remember, he gave that press conference at the end of his testimony where he said ‘I relied on accountants to do, wait for it, accounting,'” she continued. “It’s going to be difficult for him, I think, to now say anything with any authority, other than to repeat what he’s already said.”
Donald Trump’s legal team has been contacted for comment via email.
Ahead of the proceedings in the New York courtroom on Monday, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman told CNN that Trump Jr.’s testimony will essentially be more of the same.
“The defense gets to ask him what they want to ask him, so they’ll be able to really get him—and they’ll have prepared him—to really round out the themes he wants, of having no personal knowledge,” Litman said.
“On the other hand, the [Attorney General’s office] will then be able to cross him and ask very pointed yes or no questions that he’ll have to answer. So the testimony will differ on both sides. But I think what we’ll see is more of what he said the first time he testified, which is I didn’t pay any attention to this, I didn’t know anything and I just relied on the accountants.”
Donald and Eric Trump, both of whom have already testified after being called as state witnesses in the civil trial, could also be recalled to answer questions under oath by the defense.
Engoron has already ruled that Trump had committed fraud by misrepresenting the value of his properties for years. The civil trial is now considering six remaining allegations in James’ lawsuit, as well as the size of the penalty.
The former president faces being banned from doing business in New York State, having his properties removed from his control, or being forced to pay a fine totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
Uncommon Knowledge
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