Trump continued to #attack#James, #Engoron & the trial itself in posts to his social media platform this morning.
He again suggested that the trial is an attempt to interfere w/ his presidential campaign & complained about the lack of a jury in the trial.
(It is long established that either are issues)
Trump won’t be in court today. He had no legal obligation to attend, & left yesterday, noticeably angry.
Trump’s lawyers also claimed that there have been delays in obtaining & reviewing the classified records that #SpecialCounsel#JackSmith pointed to in his indictment.
“The #SpecialCounsel’s Office has not provided some of the most basic discovery in the case. Given the current schedule, we cannot understate the prejudice to President Trump arising from his lack of access to these critical materials months after they should have been produced.” Trump attys motion said.
The #JackSmith’s office argued that #Trump’s #legal team is seeking unreasonable delays & have falsely accused the govt of delaying the production of evidence.
Judge #Engoron has set a timeline for Trump to dissolve LLCs
Engoron issued a ruling to make sure Trump & the other defendants in the case are complying w/his order last week to cancel their #NewYork#business certificates.
The judge formally extended the deadline for Trump's team & the AG's office to submit suggestions for an independent receiver to oversee the dissolution of the companies by Oct. 26.
The judge's #SummaryJudgment ruling last week found that Trump & his companies had committed repeated #fraud, & canceled #business certificates for LLCs "controlled or beneficially owned" by #Trump, his sons #DonJr. & #EricTrump, & two #TrumpOrganization execs. It originally gave the parties 10 days to name a potential receiver, but Engoron extended the deadline at the request of Trump's lawyers. Trump filed a notice Wednesday that he's #appealing the ruling.
Trump's lawyer #JesusSuarez continues his lengthy cross-examination.
#KevinWallace, the lead lawyer on the #NYAG’s case, objected after Suarez began to ask #Bender about financial statements year by year, despite getting similar answers each time (& being told not to by the Judge yesterday)
#DonJr is a #TrumpOrganization exec & a defendant in the case & was responsible for filing some of the statements after his father was elected president. #Ivanka is a fmr #TrumpOrg exec & was originally a defendant in the case, but an appeals court dismissed the claims against her on statute of limitations issues.
#Suarez questioned #Bender about his interactions w/the Manhattan DA’s office.
Suarez asked why #MarkPomerantz, a fmr prosecutor in the DA's case, said in his book that Mazars sent Bender in to meet w/them w/o his own counsel & told Mazars it was in a precarious legal position. Bender said he was “satisfied” w/his #legal representation & wasn’t aware of that convo between Pomerantz & Mazars.
#Suarez also tried to insinuate that #Mazars tried to make #Bender the fall guy by sending him in to meet w/the DA w/only the counsel for Mazars. (Counsel for the company would owe duties to the co alone & is supposed to warn employees or fmr employees that in the event of a conflict, their duties are to the co.)
Bender was called by the defense in the #TrumpOrganization#tax#fraud#trial last year & spent 3 days on the stand as their lawyers suggested he failed to alert #Trump to the scam.
Another attorney for #Trump's side, #CliffRobert, grilled #Bender about the number of times he's testified that he can't remember something since he first took the stand on Monday.
"Over the last few days, you have said 'I don’t recall' or 'I don’t remember' over 90 times?" Robert asked. "I believe that’s right," Bender answered.
Commenting on the nitpickiness of #CliffRobert's questioning, Justice #Engoron quipped that it was beginning to sound like Bill Clinton being questioned about "what the definition of 'is' is."
After some brief re-direct, #Bender is done testifying (sheesh, felt like Turturro in Quiz Show there for a bit) & the AG's office has called its 2nd witness, fmr #TrumpOrganization snr VP #JeffMcConney.
#McConney testified that he retired earlier this yr & was given a severance of $500k, $125k of which he’s still owed but isn’t contingent on anything other than his “being alive.”
Among other nefarious activities, you may recall from the #TrumpOrganization’s #criminal trial that #JeffMcConney was the guy who kept a secret log to track reduced salaries & corresponding perks for #AllenWeisselberg & others, which led to separate books being provided to the #IRS.
But he acknowledged that, through his own handwritten notation, he amended Mazars’ issuance letters to indicate #TRUMP HIMSELF was entitled to a FINAL REVIEW of the compilation of statements of financial condition.
#McConney distanced himself from what #Trump did or didn’t do, saying what happened before #Weisselberg’s signoff was outside his knowledge, but confirmed that the letters were amended to make clear Trump was entitled to FINAL REVIEW.
The AG showed McConney a list of #TrumpOrg properties w/ listed values that he marked up the following year w/ new values. He said for many yrs, he marked up spreadsheets used for backups; other times, he made handwritten notes on the list & sent it back to Mazars.
#McConney, who's also a #defendant in the #Trump#fraud case, was then shown letters he sent to a lender to disclose the statements of #financial condition to Royal Bank America. That letter & others like it are part of how the AG will attempt to establish McConney’s #liability for #false financial statements, in addition to his involvement in preparing the statements themselves.
The trial adjourned for lunch.
McConney is scheduled to resume testifying at 2:15 PM ET.
Lies come back to bite Trump in the… bank account:
Congress member is asking PalmBeach County, #Florida, to #tax Trump’s #MaraLago#property at the rate he claims it is worth.
#Trump raged about #Engoron’s ruling, saying that his FL resort is worth “50 to 100 times” what prosecutors in the NY case have said, or “closer to $1.5 billion.”
“Between 2011 & 2021, you value the #MaraLago property between $18 million & $28 million,” Moskowitz wrote in the letter….
“Mar-a-Lago was listed as worth $490 million in financial documents given to banks,” he wrote. “If the property value of Mar-a-Lago is so much higher than it was appraised, will you be amending the property value in line w/the #Trump family’s belief that the property is worth well over a billion dollars?”
Add comment