MANHATTAN (CN) — Donald Trump’s testimony at his $250 million civil fraud trial quickly devolved into an attack on the court’s judge, the attorney general and even President Joe Biden.
The former president took the stand Monday morning in a packed Manhattan courtroom sporting a blue tie and powder blue shirt under a navy suit. Kevin Wallace of the attorney general’s office peppered Trump with questions about his inflated assets, the process of compiling his financial statements and catching fraud within the Trump Organization.
But Trump rarely gave him a straight answer all morning, using the inquiries instead to attack his political enemies in open court. He started with New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the case against Trump and his company last year.
“I think she’s a political hack,” Trump said of James. “I think she used this case to try to become governor and she’s successfully used it to become attorney general… it’s a disgrace that a case like this is going on.”
Trump rambled beyond his rantings about the merits of James’ case; he even took a swipe at President Joe Biden when he suggested he did a “great” job of leading the country compared to Biden.
The question that prompted that response was whether or not Trump agreed that his assets were overstated on his statements of financial conditions. When Wallace asked it again, Trump attorney Alina Habba objected.
“Asked and answered,” she said.
“No, it has not been answered,” Judge Arthur Engoron boomed back. “It has been asked, but it has not been answered.”
After several efforts by Wallace, Trump said he did not agree with the attorney general’s assessment. Wallace followed up by asking Trump if he agreed with Engoron’s September summary judgment coming to the same conclusion.
Trump shifted the aim of his vitriol to the judge.
“He ruled against me before he knew anything about me,” Trump yelled. “He called me a fraud and he didn’t know anything about me… It’s a terrible thing you’ve done, you knew nothing about me, you believed this political hack back there (Letitia James) and that’s unfortunate.”
Trump continued berating the judge, rather than addressing Wallace’s question.
“The fraud is on the court, not me,” he said.
“Are you done?” Wallace asked.
Trump said he was.
The former president began testing Engoron’s patience shortly after he took the stand Monday morning, thanks to Trump’s refusal from the jump to answer Wallace’s questions succinctly.
When Wallace asked Trump if the valuation of his Niketown property was correct, Trump wouldn't answer; instead, he insisted repeatedly that he “wouldn’t sell it for that number.”
It took three tries for Wallace to get an answer:
“I guess so,” Trump finally admitted. “I really can’t answer that. I guess so. It’s a number I wouldn’t sell it for.”
The judge, who by then had already asked Trump’s lawyers numerous times to "control" him and suggested they step outside, had enough.
“Mr. Kise, can you control your client? This is not a rally,” Engoron said to Trump’s lead attorney Chris Kise. “We’ll be here forever and we’ll accomplish nothing. Maybe you should have a talk with him right now.”
After another offense, Engoron implored Kise once more to have a word with the former president.
“Mr. Kise, that was a simple yes or no question,” Engoron said. “We got another speech. I beseech you to control him if you can. If you can’t, I will. I will excuse him and draw every negative inference that I can.”
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