If you are following Trump's live testimony today in the NYAG fraud case - below is an overview of the fraud complaint that I published last Oct with a section on Trump's June 2021 Statement of Financial Condition as a helpful reference guide
The former president has become "more detached from reality" than ever.
ABC News’ Jonathan Karl said that while former President Donald Trump’s mounting legal woes have been headline news, “people have not been paying attention to what Trump has become.”
Trump “has become more detached from reality than he ever was even in the White House,”
#Trump has always been a loose cannon, now he's a loose cannon with half a brain.💩
20 min in and #Trump's #testimony is already a historic #trainwreck. Apparently, he's refusing to answer questions, and is instead going on long, rambling monologues similar to his Troth Sential screeds. The judge ain't having it.
The judge at Donald Trump's New York civil fraud trial has admonished him to "answer the questions, no speeches" as he began testimony in a case that could dismantle his business empire.
It is an act. He is a product of Mark Burnett. It's phony. Donald Trump is a big fat phony.
[NYTimes] "Trump walked out of the courtroom scowling and made a gesture of sealing his lips. He uncharacteristically refused to take questions from reporters.
Asked why he reinstated himself as trustee BEFORE leaving the WH, #Trump said because he would go back to business & complained that "you" (#NYAG) & other "Democrat" prosecutors "were all coming after me from 15 different sides” said the cases are "not good… weaponization, they call it.”
Shown his stmnt of financial condition (#SFC) from June 30, 2011 — Trump pointed to a disclaimer, "We would call it a worthless statement clause… not really documents that the banks paid much attn to."
#NYAG asked about what role #Trump personally played in the preparation of his #financial statements.
Trump: “Me personally? It’s so long ago, this is well beyond the statute of limitations…. But [it’s] probably not because I’m sure the judge will rule against me, because he always rules against me.”
Trump insisted that his properties were “underestimated”
NYAG asked which assets Trump thought were undervalued in his SFCs.
#Trump: “Mar-a-lago was very underestimated. I didn't do anything about it, I just left it be. I don't care.” (Yeah, right) "I'd say it's worth 50 to 100 times more than that. He thought it was worth 18M dollars which is absolutely crazy," he indicated Judge #Engoron.
(Engoron didn't; he cited an #appraisal of the property from 2011 in his ruling.)
Trump said if he wanted to "build up" his financial statements, he would have added his "brand value." (he did, named a ‘presidential premium’)
#Trump: “We didn't value the most valuable #asset in the statement, the brand value…. I became president because of my #brand, I sell books because of my brand.” (It certainly had nothing to do w/policy) “Even though these banks were paid back in full, there was no harm...there was no victim.” (Eh-hem, when you don’t pay taxes, you rip off the govt which then does not have that $ to fund various programs)
Engoron: “Mr. Wallace, did you ask for an essay on brand value?"
#Trump spouts his narrative of the #NYAG's case: “‘Trump had no money & he wrote up phony statements & he defrauded banks,’ even though they were represented by the best lawyers.”
Wallace: “I move to strike that answer.”
(Granted.)
Engoron: “Mr. Kise, can you control your client? this is not a #political#rally, this is a courtroom. I don't want editorializing, we’ll be here forever. We don't have time to waste. We have one day to do this.”
Kise: "You're in control of the courtroom, not me."
#Trump continued to boast about his finances: "It's a nice compilation of assets. It's a great statement. L.... It's a lot of cash. ..... The banks came to me. They wanted to make deals with me."
Judge: "Stricken! Stricken!"
Engoron “In addition to the answers being non-responsive, they're repetitive."
#NYAG: "If anything, you think the valuations that they used were too low, is that correct?"
Trump: “Absolutely”
NYAG Wallace asked about Trump's 2014 SFC which valued Niketown at $348M.