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NEW YORK (AP) — Months before Donald Trump was a witness in his civil fraud trial in New York, the former president came face-to-face with the state attorney general who sued him while he was testifying last year in his Manhattan office. .
The video released on Friday of the seven-hour closed-door referendum last April shows the attitude of the favorite for the Republican presidency from calm and coldness to indignation; at one point he called Attorney General Letitia James’ trial against him a “disgrace” and a “terrible thing. “”
Sitting with arms folded, an incredulous Trump complained to the state lawyer questioning him that he was being forced to “justify myself to you” after decades of success building a real estate empire that’s now threatened by the court case.
Trump, who says James’ trial is part of a politically motivated “witch hunt,” has been demonstrative from the start. The video shows him smiling and pouting as the attorney general, a Democrat, introduces herself and tells him she is “committed to a fair and uncompromising judicial process. “
James posted the video on Friday in reaction to media requests under the New York Freedom of Information Act. Trump’s lawyers had already released a transcript of his remarks at trial in August.
James’ lawsuit accuses Trump, his company and his top executives of defrauding banks, insurers and others by inflating his wealth and overstating the price of indexed assets in annual financial statements used to underwrite loans and close deals.
Judge Arthur Engoron, who will decide the case because a jury is not allowed in this type of lawsuit, has said he hopes to have a ruling by the end of January.
Friday’s video is a rare opportunity for the public to see Trump as a witness.
No cameras were allowed in the courtroom when Trump testified on Nov. 6, nor in closing arguments in the case on Jan. 11, where Trump defied the ruling and delivered a six-minute rant after his lawyers spoke.
Here are the highlights from Trump’s videotaped deposition:
“YOU DON’T HAVE A CASE”
Telling James and his team, “you don’t have any cases,” Trump insisted that the banks, he said, were misled through high valuations, suffered no harm, received payments in connection with their transactions and “to date have no complaints. “
“Do you know the banks made a lot of money?” Trump asked, previewing his later trial testimony. “Do you know I don’t believe I ever got even a default notice and, even during COVID, the banks were all paid. And yet you’re suing on behalf of banks, I guess. It’s crazy. The whole case is crazy.”
Banks “want to do business with me because I’m rich,” Trump told James. “But you know what, they’re petrified at the thought of doing business because of you. “
Trump lamented that the New York government is “devoting all its time to investigating me, to preventing violent crime on the streets. “
He said his recently jailed former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, was sent “to hell” for evading taxes paid through the company.
In an earlier deposition in the case, in August 2022, Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege as opposed to self-incrimination and refused to answer questions more than 400 times. He said he did so because he was confident that his answers would form the basis of felon charges.
Don’t take me for that
Trump said he never imagined his money statements would “be taken very seriously” and that other people who did business with him were warned enough not to accept them as true.
Trump described the statements as “a fairly good compilation of properties” rather than a true representation of their value. Some numbers, he noted, were “guesstimates.”
Trump claimed that the statements were primarily for his use, though he admitted that monetary institutions request them. Even then, he insisted that legally it didn’t matter if they were accurate or not, because they came with a disclaimer.
“I have a clause in there that says, ’Don’t believe the statement. Go out and do your own work,” Trump testified. “You’re supposed to pay no credence to what we say whatsoever.”
WHAT’S IN A NAME? $10 BILLION
Trump estimated that his “brand” alone is worth “maybe $10 billion.”
He called it “the most valuable asset I have” and attributed his political success to the ubiquity of his name and persona.
“I became president because of the logo, okay,” Trump said. “I became president. I think it’s the logo of the world. “
“THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB IN THE WORLD”
After Trump was elected, he put the Trump Organization under a rule of law overseen by his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. , and longtime chief financial officer, Weisselberg.
Trump said he did so not because it was necessary, but because he sought to be a “legitimate president” and avoid the appearance of a clash of interests.
What’s more, Trump said, he’s busy solving the world’s messes, such as stopping North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un from launching a nuclear attack.
“I considered this the most important job in the world, saving millions of lives,” Trump testified. “I think you would have nuclear holocaust if I didn’t deal with North Korea. I think you would have a nuclear war, if I weren’t elected. And I think you might have a nuclear war now, if you want to know the truth.”
OBSTRUCTED VIEW
In one of his liveliest moments, Trump suggested his inquisitors look out the window to see his tower at 40 Wall Street, directly across from James’s, where he testified.
Asked how the building was doing, financially, Trump gestured toward the building with his thumb and answered: “Good. It’s right here. Would you like to see it?”
“I don’t think we’re allowed to open the windows,” attorney Kevin Wallace said.
“Pull back the curtain,” Trump suggested, shaking his head as he waited to be forced.
“No,” Wallace said.
“Pull back the curtain, come forward,” Trump said. This is all. I looked out the window.
“Can’t you open it?” Defense attorney Clifford Robert, after a moment.
“I wouldn’t,” Wallace said.
‘BEAUTIFUL’ AND ’INCREDIBLE’
Trump showed off his knack for superlatives, uttering the words “beautiful” and “incredible” 15 times each and “phenomenal” six times as he described his properties.
Trump called his golf course in Turnberry, Scotland, “one of the most iconic places in the world,” and the renovated villas at his golf hotel in Doral, near Miami, “the most beautiful rooms ever seen. “
Trump described his 213-acre Seven Springs estate north of New York City as “the greatest house in New York State.”
Your golf courses in Aberdeen, Scotland?” Truly amazing. ” Jupiter, Florida?”An amazing facility. ” Right outside of Los Angeles. ” An amazing asset. . . An amazing asset. . . A phenomenal asset facing the ocean. »
“I don’t want to sell any of them,” Trump testified. “But if I ever sold them — if I ever put some of these things up for sale — I would get numbers that were staggering.”
He said he could get $1. 5 billion for his Mar-a-Lago farm in Florida and $2. 5 billion for Doral.
Trump has warned he could make “a fortune” from the Saudi-backed LIV golf league for the Turnberry course, the former British Open tournament.
“There would be people that would do anything to own Doral. There are people that would do anything to own Turnberry or Mar-a-Lago or … Trump Tower or 40 Wall Street.”
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Follow Sisak on x. com/mikesisak and submit sensitive information by visiting https://www. ap. org/
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