New York CNN – The New York Attorney General’s office interrogated Donald Trump’s adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, on Thursday regarding their knowledge and involvement in their father’s financial statements during the ongoing fraud trial. The back-to-back appearances of the Trump brothers, who played active roles in the Trump Organization while their father was President, were tense and significant. The purpose was to challenge the claim that the brothers had no involvement with their father’s financial statements, which a judge has already ruled were fraudulently inflated to obtain favorable loan terms. Here are the main points from the court proceedings:
During the examination, Assistant Attorney General Andrew Amer pressed Eric Trump about his understanding of his father’s financial statements and presented a series of emails from 2010 as evidence. Eric Trump admitted to providing information to the Trump Organization’s controller, Jeff McConney, who is also a co-defendant in the trial. He tried to distinguish between specific statements of financial condition and general financial records for the company, claiming that he was unaware the information provided was for his father’s personal financial statements.
The distinction is crucial because the attorney general’s office points to Donald Trump’s statements of finances as evidence of inflated property values and obtaining favorable loan terms. An expert witness testified that the Trump Organization saved $168 million through fraudulent information.
The assistant attorney general pushed Eric Trump to admit that he knew the information he provided to McConney about assets like Seven Springs and the Doral Golf Resort was for his father’s financial statements. Emails presented in court suggested that Eric Trump was aware of discrepancies in the valuation of properties.
Donald Trump Jr., on the other hand, claimed that he relied on accountants and was not involved in preparing his father’s financial statements, even though he signed them as a trustee. He testified that he trusted the Trump Organization’s accounting and legal teams to ensure the accuracy of the statements.
The attorney general’s office and Trump’s lawyers also had a lengthy debate over attorney-client privilege and the steps taken by the Trump Organization once the investigation began in 2019. Trump Jr. mentioned some internal changes made, such as hiring a certified public accountant as a chief financial officer.
The tensest moment of the day occurred between the judge and Trump attorney Chris Kise, as the judge admonished Kise over a critical comment about the judge’s clerk. The judge warned Kise about making comments regarding his staff and threatened to extend the gag order to lawyers. He defended his clerk’s role, stating that she was a civil servant who followed his instructions.
Donald Trump is scheduled to testify on Monday, and all eyes are on his upcoming testimony and how it may impact the ongoing trials in 2024. Despite not being present in court for his sons’ testimonies, Trump took to social media to express his dissatisfaction with the trial.
