Months earlier than Donald Trump’s defiant flip as a witness at his New York civil fraud trial, the previous president got here face-to-face with the state lawyer common who was suing him when he sat for a deposition final 12 months at her Manhattan workplace.
Video made public of the seven-hour, closed-door session final April reveals the Republican presidential frontrunner’s demeanor going from calm and funky to indignant — at one level ripping Legal professional Normal Letitia James’ lawsuit in opposition to him as a “shame” and “a horrible factor.”
Sitting with arms folded, an incredulous Trump complained to the state lawyer questioning him that he was being pressured to “justify myself to you” after many years of success constructing an actual property empire that’s now threatened by the courtroom case.
Trump, who contends James’ lawsuit is a part of a politically motivated “witch hunt” was demonstrative from the outset. The video reveals him smirking and pouting his lips because the lawyer common, a Democrat, launched herself and informed him that she was “dedicated to a good and neutral authorized course of.”
James’ workplace launched the video on Friday in response to requests from media retailers below New York’s Freedom of Info Legislation. Trump’s legal professionals beforehand posted a transcript of his remarks to the trial docket in August.
James’ lawsuit accuses Trump, his firm and prime executives of defrauding banks, insurers and others by inflating his wealth and exaggerating the worth of property on annual monetary statements used to safe loans and make offers.
Choose Arthur Engoron, who will resolve the case as a result of a jury isn’t allowed in any such lawsuit, has stated he hopes to have a ruling by the tip of January.
Friday’s video is a uncommon likelihood for the general public at massive to see Trump as a witness.
Cameras weren’t permitted within the courtroom when Trump testified on Nov. 6, nor had been they allowed for closing arguments within the case on Jan. 11, the place Trump defied the choose and gave a six-minute diatribe after his legal professionals spoke.
Listed below are the highlights from Trump’s videotaped deposition:
YOU DON’T HAVE A CASE
Telling James and her workers, “you don’t have a case,” Trump insisted the banks she alleges had been snookered with lofty valuations suffered no hurt, received paid in his offers, and “to today haven’t any complaints.”
“Have you learnt the banks made some huge cash?” Trump requested, previewing his later trial testimony. “Have you learnt I don’t consider I ever received even a default discover and, even throughout Covid, the banks had been all paid. And but you’re suing on behalf of banks, I suppose. It’s loopy. The entire case is loopy.”
Banks “wish to do enterprise with me as a result of I’m wealthy,” Trump informed James. “However, you realize what, they’re petrified to do enterprise due to you.”
Trump complained New York authorities “spend all their time investigating me, as a substitute of stopping violent crime within the streets.”
He stated they’d put his just lately jailed ex-finance chief Allen Weisselberg “via hell and again” for dodging taxes on company-paid perks.
At a earlier deposition within the case, in August 2022, Trump invoked his Fifth Modification privilege in opposition to self-incrimination and refused to reply questions greater than 400 occasions. He stated he did so as a result of he was sure his solutions can be used as a foundation for felony prices.
DON’T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT
Trump stated he by no means felt his monetary statements “can be taken very critically,” and that individuals who did enterprise with him got ample warning to not belief them.
Trump described the statements as “a reasonably good compilation of properties” slightly than a real illustration of their worth. Some numbers, he famous, had been “guesstimates.”
Trump claimed the statements had been primarily for his use, although he conceded monetary establishments typically requested for them. Even then, he insisted it didn’t matter legally in the event that they had been correct or not, as a result of they got here with a disclaimer.
“I’ve a clause in there that claims, ’Don’t consider the assertion. Exit and do your personal work,” Trump testified. “You’re purported to pay no credence to what we are saying in any respect.”WHAT’S IN A NAME? $10 BILLION
Trump estimated that his “model” alone is value “perhaps $10 billion.”
He referred to as it “probably the most beneficial asset I’ve” and attributed his political success to the ubiquity of his title and persona.
“I turned president due to the model, OK,” Trump stated. “I turned president. I believe it’s the most well liked model on the earth.”
MOST IMPORTANT JOB IN THE WORLD
After Trump was elected, he put the Trump Group right into a belief overseen by his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and longtime finance chief, Weisselberg.
Trump claimed he did so not as a result of it was required however as a result of he needed to be a “authentic president” and keep away from the looks of a battle of curiosity.
Plus, Trump stated, he was busy fixing the world’s issues — like stopping North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un from launching a nuclear assault.
“I thought of this a very powerful job on the earth, saving hundreds of thousands of lives,” Trump testified. “I believe you’d have nuclear holocaust if I didn’t take care of North Korea. I believe you’d have a nuclear warfare if I weren’t elected. And I believe you may need a nuclear warfare now, if you wish to know the reality.”
OBSTRUCTED VIEW
In one in every of his extra animated moments, Trump urged his inquisitors to look proper out the window for a view of his 40 Wall Road workplace tower — simply throughout the road from James’ workplace the place he testified.
Requested how the constructing was doing, financially, Trump gestured towards the constructing together with his thumb and answered: “Good. It’s proper right here. Would you wish to see it?”
“I don’t assume we’re allowed to open the home windows,” Wallace stated.
“Open the curtain,” Trump recommended, bobbing his head round ready for somebody to oblige.
“No,” Wallace stated.
“Open the curtain, go forward,” Trump stated. “It’s proper right here. I simply appeared out the window.”
“Can’t open it?” defence lawyer Clifford Robert requested, after a beat.
“I wouldn’t,” Wallace stated.
‘BEAUTIFUL’ AND ’INCREDIBLE’
Trump confirmed off his knack for superlatives, uttering the phrases “stunning” and “unimaginable” 15 occasions every and “phenomenal” six occasions as he described his properties.
Trump referred to as his Turnberry, Scotland, golf course “some of the iconic locations on the earth,” and the renovated villas at his Doral golf resort close to Miami “probably the most stunning rooms you’ve ever seen.”
Trump described his 213-acre Seven Springs property north of New York Metropolis as “the best home in New York State.”
His golf programs in Aberdeen, Scotland? “Actually unimaginable.” Jupiter, Florida? “An unimaginable facility.” Simply outdoors Los Angeles? “An unimaginable property âæ an unbelievable property … an outstanding property that fronts the ocean.”
“I don’t wish to promote any of them,” Trump testified. “But when I ever offered them — if I ever put a few of these issues up on the market — I’d get numbers that had been staggering.”
He stated he may get $1.5 billion for his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and perhaps $2.5 billion for Doral.
Trump recommended he may get “a fortune” from the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV golf league for the Turnberry course, a former British Open website.
“There can be folks that will do something to personal Doral. There are folks that will do something to personal Turnberry or Mar-a-Lago or … Trump Tower or 40 Wall Road.”
Tune In
