In two long messages written in all caps from start to finish, the equivalent of shouting in social media code, Trump declared that he had nothing more to say about the fraud case brought against him and his companies in New York York is being tried. At the last minute, the former President of the United States refuses to testify in the trial, as he had announced he would do this Saturday. “I will not testify on Monday,” he said at the end of one of his messages written on Truth, his social network, and published on Sunday afternoon.
The former president was scheduled to appear as the defense's main witness this Monday. He testified on November 6th at the request of prosecutors and Trump appeared defiant and combative. The judge had to repeatedly point out and warn him that he was not at a political rally. This Monday he planned to take the stand at the request of his lawyer to defend the cleanliness of his stores, but that also exposed him to fire from the prosecutor's office. “I have already said everything and I have nothing left to say,” he also wrote in another fragment of his message.
The former president argues that he changed his mind because the experts brought in by the defense had already given such “strong and irrefutable” testimony that it was unnecessary to add more. Trump maintains his theory that the trial is a witch hunt and election interference to benefit Joe Biden in next year's presidential election, but as always, without providing any evidence.
In contrast, New York Attorney General Letitia James claims that the statements of the defense's own witnesses favor the prosecution, as she explained in a video on the social network X on Friday. According to James, one of the experts “acknowledged that the valuations of some properties in Donald Trump's financial report were neither “fair” nor “appropriate.”
Another expert is a member of Trump's Mar-a-Lago club and said Trump personally asked him for “help” in the case when he met him at the club “on a matter in New York.” “This topic was our request,” explains James with a smile. Prosecutors add in their video that another Trump expert is an accounting professor whose fees are paid by Save America, Trump's political action committee, and that the professor testified that the value of Trump's “triplex” was inflated, saying she. James added: “We can agree on that.” “He also had a lot to say about testimony about Donald Trump's financial situation, even though he hasn't produced a financial report since the 1980s,” he said of the third witness. “Donald Trump can continue to try to distract from reality. You can keep insulting me. But as the judge said today, the norm is the truth. And the truth is on our side,” his video ends.
Donald Trump, center, with his lawyers Christopher Kise, left, and Alina Habba, in the courtroom on December 7th. POOL (via Portal)
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The lawsuit accused Trump's companies of inflating the valuations of some of their assets to obtain cheaper financing from banks. In his Truth Social messages this Sunday, Trump increases the bid and asserts that his Mar-a-Lago mansion is worth between $900 and $1.8 billion, a pretty crazy number.
The judge responsible for the case, Arthur Engoron, ruled in September before the trial began that Trump and other defendants had committed fraud. He ordered a bankruptcy trustee to take control of some of the former president's properties, but an appeals court stayed that decision. The judge is currently considering six additional charges, including conspiracy and insurance fraud. New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking fines of more than $300 million and wants Trump barred from doing business in New York.
Trump should be the final defense witness. Now Eli Bartov, a professor of accounting at New York University, just needs to finish his statement. This will be followed by several counterwitnesses called by the public prosecutor's office before both parties present their final arguments and the trial proceeds to the verdict.
Waiting for criminal cases
This is a civil case in which Trump faces fines and sanctions. The former president is accused of a total of 91 crimes in four criminal proceedings. One of the cases is also taking place in New York, that of his first allegation of commercial falsehoods in payments to cover up scandals that he feared would ruin his 2016 presidential campaign (one of which went to porn actress Stormy Daniels, an alleged to silence extramarital affair). ). This is scheduled for five weeks beginning March 25, 2024 in a New York State court.
Before federal Judge Tanya Chutkan theoretically sets the start of March 4 for the trial in Washington over the attempt to change the results of the 2020 election, it is very likely that it will be delayed. Trump claimed presidential immunity arguing that he was exercising the functions of his office, and although the judge denied his request to archive the case, his lawyers have appealed, warning that the case must be dropped pending the previous issue been clarified.
Then criminal proceedings would begin for crimes against the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice for illegally storing classified material in his possession after he left the White House. The Southern District of Florida judge has scheduled a five-week trial starting May 20, 2024, although it is expected to be delayed. The trial date for the attempted election theft in that state, the case that immortalized Trump's mugshot, is coming up in Georgia.
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