MANHATTAN (CN) — As his civil fraud trial enters its final weeks, Donald Trump set a date for his final walk to the witness stand. The former president will sit for defense testimony on Dec. 11, his lawyers said Monday, exactly five weeks after his fiery testimony led by state attorneys.
His middle son Eric Trump is slated to return to the stand on Dec. 6, defense attorneys said. His oldest, Donald Trump Jr., testified for the defense on Nov. 13, when he irked the attorney general’s office with a pitch-like testimony about the history and success of the Trump Organization. Both sons were called to testify during the government's case.
Neither Donald nor Eric Trump were cross-examined by their attorneys last month when they fielded questions from state attorneys. In fact, the former president largely evaded meaningful answers altogether when he first testified on Nov. 6, instead electing to fire away at political opponents from the witness stand.
Attorney General Letitia James in 2022 filed the $250 million civil fraud lawsuit against Donald Trump, Eric Trump, Donald Trump. Jr, the Trump Organization and its former finance chief Allen Weisselberg. In her lengthy complaint, James accused the defendants of fraudulently inflating yearly financial statements to swindle millions from banks and insurance companies.
Judge Arthur Engoron already found the defendants liable for the case’s top fraud count, but over the past several weeks, the defense has tried to convince the court that the Trump Organization’s outside accountants were actually the ones at fault.
Donald Trump’s lead attorney Chris Kise announced the tentative dates to the court on Monday in the midst of testimony from Mark Hawthorn, the chief operating officer of the Trump Organization’s hotel division.
Hawthorn spent roughly four hours on the witness stand walking the court through loans the Trump Organization took out on behalf of his division. During Hawthorn’s testimony, defense attorney Clifford Robert floated the idea of calling a court-appointed monitor to the stand to testify that there was, in fact, no fraud committed by the Trump Organization.
That monitor is retired U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones, who Engoron selected to keep watch over the Trump Organization’s finances in the leadup to the trial.
The judge mulled over Robert’s ask during Monday’s lunch break, ultimately denying the “inappropriate” request to call Jones and her staff to the witness stand.
“I hereby preclude their testimony,” Engoron said. “Besides being untimely, the request is inappropriate. Judge Jones and her staff are arms of the court, and you cannot question the court in this manner.”
Engoron said that, aside from inviting a possible conflict of interest, Jones shouldn’t need to testify about fraud within the Trump Organization since she’ll already be writing reports on the matter. “Reports speak for themselves,” Engoron added.
One “no” wasn’t enough for Trump’s lawyers, however. About an hour after Engoron denied their request, the defense attorneys pleaded with the court once more to let them add Judge Jones to their witness list.
Trump’s lead attorney Chris Kise suggested that Jones’ testimony could dispel the fraud allegations altogether. He raised his voice to the judge.
“They’re the only ones in the courtroom jumping up and down claiming there’s fraud,” Kise said of the attorney general’s office. “The bank isn’t. The monitor isn’t.”
Engoron softly reprimanded Kise for the outburst.
“Every time you talk, it’s a campaign speech,” the judge said.
Lawyers for the attorney general’s office jabbed back at Kise.
“We hear everything you say, we’re just not convinced or impressed,” state lawyer Louis Solomon said.
Hawthorn, who was finished with his testimony anyway, was excused from the stand after the heated exchange; Engoron joked that he was welcome to sit in the gallery and watch the rest of the legal sparring match.
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