JUNIOR A JOKESTER
Ex-first son a cut-up on stand at Daddy Don’s NY fraud trial
Donald Trump Jr. took the witness stand in a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday to defend himself in the $250 million civil fraud trial that threatens his dad’s real estate empire — firing off several jokes as he denied working on the financial statements that are key to the case.
Don Jr., 45, is a defendant alongside his father, his brother Eric, 39, and the family real-estate company in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ ongoing trial alleging that Don Sr. inflated the value of his assets for years to get better loan and insurance terms from banks, saving him hundreds of millions of dollars.
“I did not,” the former president’s eldest child said when asked if he had ever worked on his father’s “statement of financial condition” — documents that James alleges Trump Sr. falsified from 2011 through 2017 by pumping up his net worth to the tune of billions per year.
“The accountants worked on it, that’s what we pay them for,” Don Jr. said.
I rely on professionals and CPAs. We pay millions of dollars and [they] have great degrees.
— Donald Trump Jr.
‘Not involved’
“I was not involved in the compilation of this statement of financial condition,” he later added.
During the testimony — which lasted for roughly 75 minutes and featured James observing from the front row — Don Jr. joked he has “no understanding” of accounting lingo.
“I rely on professionals and CPAs. We pay millions of dollars and [they] have great degrees,” he said, drawing laughter from the courtroom gallery.
He also got into a round of banter with Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron and AG lawyer Colleen Faherty, about the pronunciation of the word “revocable.”
Faherty asked Don Jr. what the “Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust” was, prompting Engoron to interject: “Now that we finally have a trustee in the courtroom, we can finally ask if it is rev-o-cable or re-voc-able.”
“Your honor, it’s a good question, but I’m not sure which is actually correct,” Don Jr. answered.
Faherty then asked a question using the pronunciation rev-o-cable, to which Don Jr. joked, “I’m not sure what that is, I only understand re-voc-able” — prompting yet more chuckles from the gallery.
At one point, the judge asked Faherty
and Don Jr. — who was talking a mile a minute — to slow down so the court stenographer could keep up.
“I apologize, Your Honor, I moved to Florida but I kept the New York pace,” Don Jr. jovially responded.
Don Jr. answered many questions about the hierarchy of power at the Trump Organization including explaining that Eric and he were on equal footing in the family real estate empire from 2011 through 2017.
The trial is in its fifth week and is expected to last through December.
The Attorney General’s Office is slated to rest its case next week with Trump taking the stand Monday and Ivanka Trump as the final witness next Wednesday.