Jimmy Kimmel mocked former President Donald Trump after his Monday testimony during his civil fraud trial.
Trump took the stand in the $250 million civil fraud trial in New York, where he has been accused by New York Attorney Letitia James of inflating his net worth by billions of dollars in order to get better bank loans and reduced tax bills.
His two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, as well as The Trump Organization, are also co-defendants in the civil case.
Kimmel opened his late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday with a monologue that took aim at Trump’s five-hour testimony, describing the former president as a “refrigerator Perry Mason.”
“You could tell he was rattled because the color of his face was about eight shades darker than the color of his hands,” Kimmel joked, adding, “he didn’t want to leave little orange fingerprints on the Bible when he was sworn in.”
Kimmel then poked fun at Trump’s valuation of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida at between $1 billion and $1.5 billion, even though Forbes valued it at $350 million.
“Even though he’s on trial for inflating the value of his assets, he can’t help but inflate the value of his assets,” Kimmel said.
When asked if he had helped prepare a financial statement in 2021, Trump replied he could not because he was too busy at the White House and “keeping our country safe from China and Russia.”
“Then the lawyer had to remind him he wasn’t president in 2021,” Kimmel said.
The comedian also took aim at Trump’s children, Eric and Ivanka Trump, the former for a press conference he gave outside the courthouse and the latter for trying to get out of testifying by claiming it would be an “undue hardship” to travel from her home in Florida to New York City during the school week.
“As if those kids don’t have 11 nannies,” Kimmel scoffed.
The judge overseeing Trump’s trial, Arthur Engoron, ruled last month that Trump, his two adult sons, businesses, and executives committed fraud. He will rule on six other accusations, including falsifying business records, insurance fraud, and conspiracy claims after Trump’s lawyers declined a jury trial.
If found guilty, Trump could lose some of his properties and the right to conduct business in New York.
Trump is also facing 91 felony charges across four criminal indictments in other jurisdictions across the country.
Trump received a federal indictment in June which accused him of mishandling sensitive documents and conspiracy to obstruct the government in retrieving these documents from his Mar-A-Lago estate after leaving the White House.
A federal grand jury in August indicted him on four counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, arising from his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election result.
That month he was also indicted in Georgia alongside 18 other people over allegations he attempted to overturn President Joe Biden’s election victory in the state.
He has denied wrongdoing in all cases.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images North America
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.